Free Custom «Managing Operations» Essay Paper

Importance of quality management to an organizationQuality is a status of excellence and consistency in following the standard requirements of a product or service which satisfies the customer. The product or service of good quality is admired by customers thus making any business a success. An excellent quality is free from any defects or variations from desired output (Quality). This paper examines and promotes the importance of quality to an organization's strategic objectives.Strategic ObjectiveThe strategic objective of a business is a specific goal that a business wishes to achieve through a certain process. The strategic objectives are several for many businesses but we focus on the objective to maximize efficiency and improve service delivery. This is achieved through quality management in an organization. That is a process where the quality of a product or service is continuously controlled in order to achieve a desired output which enables efficiency and service delivery. The overall goal of the business is customer satisfaction through quality products and services (Bacal 2010, p.1).Communicating QualityThe company must be in a position to communicate to its employees of the desired quality improvements in an organization. It is very important that an organization develop ways of transferring meaning rather for communication to support quality improvement. This means that any communication that support quality improvement should indicate clear employee standards of performance and the strategic objective desired through quality improvement. For the communication to succeed, it should aim to achieve understanding among stakeholders rather than just passing and receiving information. The examples of communication by businesses include product quality launches and magazines (Gray 2009, p. 2; Batra, & Shepard 1999, p. 77). Thus communication form core basis towards achievement of quality improvement so as to ensure all stakeholders carry out specified tasks as required.Desired, Actual and Perceived QualitiesA desired quality is that which is anticipated by consumers to receive when they need a product or service. This is ideal requirement by the producers or customers of a product or service free from any defect and able to satisfy their needs as per their requirement. The actual quality is the present state quality of a product or service. A business is able to check whether all the set objectives of quality was achieved and be able to analyze the real quality of existing product or service by measurements and tests. The perceived quality is the state of quality of which is formed in an individual's mind out past experience and improvements over time. Thus the difference comes from their points of view where desired is future oriented, actual is current and perceived is that long term attitude towards a quality that has been developed over time (Gray 2009, p. 2).Principle of Quality and ApplicationsThese are factors that have to be considered by any company so as to achieve quality management. They include factors of assurance, reliability, customer-driven, continuous improvement and independence. The quality assurance is a principle that ensures no defects occur in the business processes. This involve analyzing each stage of all processes, identifying causes of defects and suggesting ways to ensure that the system do not produce any defects (DEER 2010, p. 2; Feigenbaum 1991, p. 224).Another important principle is that of consistency and reliability of the processes. The quality system should be able to ensure that each process delivers the right and desired specifications for the next process. These specifications include the right quantity, price, quality and within the accepted time of delivery (DEER 2010, p. 2). This is important principle of ensuring that the business processes can be trusted to meet business requirements.

 

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There are businesses which deal with products that need reassurance of their quality from time to time like food products. These products need quality systems developed out of independent audit which is internationally recognized. This principle applies to all businesses that deal with a line of products that require independent assessments (DEER 2010, p. 3).Moreover, the quality systems should be able to meet the customer quality requirement. This is because the consumer of the product eventually has an opinion of that product (DEER 2010, p. 4). Thus every quality system should put the customers' quality needs at every business process so as to achieve the desired objectives.The other important principle of quality is the aspect of continuous improvement. The quality system should be able to improve with the over changing market environment. Therefore any quality system must be in a position to evolve on a continuous basis so as to ensure it maintains desired quality with new inventions and changes (DEER 2010, p. 4).These principles are applied to all quality systems so as to achieve desired quality management. For effective quality systems, they should be able meet these basic requirements so has to be able to monitor the quality trends in any business. There has been continuous change in quality requirements that have developed trends which impact several businesses.Those businesses which develop with new quality requirements are able to grow their revenues and markets but those who do not adjust their qualities from time to time are feared to loose in the competitive business environments. Therefore the companies should be able to assess the quality trends in their markets through continuous research and analysis. Continued quality research will enable a business to adjust its quality systems to be able to meet current trends and benefit from dynamic markets.Need to Monitoring Organization Performance and Tools UsedDue to continuous trends in quality requirements as discussed above, it has become important for companies to monitor organizations performance in relation to quality. The businesses should manage the entire process of quality improvement so as to be able to achieve the desired quality. The operations management is put in place so as to foresee that quality is achieved in all the business processes.The monitoring enables any business to keep pace with its customer requirements. This will ensure continued business by solving any concerns from consumers as they happen. The continuous monitoring enables businesses to recommend and add any improvements that can be made to the quality of business support processes as they provide (SFEDI 2009, P. 1). Thus the continuous monitoring is needed to keep information flowing so as necessary adjustments are carried out without delay. The continued monitoring process has led to development of concept of managing continuous improvement.Concept of Managing Continuous Improvement

The concept of managing continuous improvement is the total quality management. It focuses on continued quality development so as to change the way things are done in organizations. This is not a quick problem solving technique but rather a continuous process of fixing problems as they happen and avoiding mistakes. Therefore it is important that in every organization under total quality management have its people understand what to do, how to do, posses the right skills and be able to measure the improvement against the current levels.Total quality management has guiding principles that include customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, people-driven management and management by fact. The concept of continuous management focuses on the customer quality satisfaction. The customer should be delighted by the company products or services. The ability of the company to be in touch with the customer's needs and changes is the critical part of any total quality management.The other core principle of total quality management is the knowledge of the current quality standards that exist so as to be able to improve on them. This is management by existing facts which you build on in the process of improvement. Thus having all the facts and giving the information to all stakeholders so as to base their decisions on them is the essential element of meaningful continuous improvement.Moreover, the other aspect of total quality management is that it is people- driven. The people can be encouraged to take part in suggesting improvements where they understand their products and services well. The feedback should be collected from several people who understand the products or services. The feedback will then be used to develop improvements and it will result in more customer satisfaction. The larger the number of people involved will mean that the customer satisfaction would greatly be enhanced.The core part of total quality management is the ability to maintain continuous improvement. The fact about total quality improvement is that it is a long term process. The outcome of continuous management may not be felt immediately but over time, its benefits will be felt. It recognizes the fact that other competitors are constantly improving and as a result continuous quality management should be undertaken. Therefore, continuous improvement is incremental change rather that a major rise and it requires that all stakeholders of total quality management undertake the slow continued process to future success.Tools and Techniques Available to Total Quality ManagementThe purpose of total quality management methods is to assist in problem solving so as to enable quality improvements to meet customer desires. The selection of appropriate method is important so that it enables the management to achieve desired information for its decision making processes. The choice will depend on the knowledge of the senior management who should understand that if a method is not used appropriately it may not be useful for total quality management. We shall discuss a few of these methods for the purpose of this paper;Just in Time (JIT)This method is used to deliver raw materials or components within the business processes just in time when they are needed. It will reduce inventory costs and thus reduce overall cost of production. The method enables the management to request supply only when the existing stock is about to get diminished. The benefits of this method are that it reduces inventory leading to reduced costs as reduced lead time. Also, out of reduced inventory, the space required will be reduced and re-work reduced as well (Gopal, Kanji & Ashir 1996, p. 50).This is a Japanese word meaning "change for better". This concept is used to show continuous development in all business processes. The term is used frequently in all aspect of life to encourage improvement. It is a concept based on individual's commitment and participation to improve on continued basis. It is applicable in processing and general business operations. Since Kaizen is people driven, it has advantage of producing high quality product at increased productivity rate (Gopal, Kanji & Ashir 1996, p. 51). The culture of Kaizen can be developed in any work environment until the employees become used to improvement so that constant quality improvement becomes a tradition.This is used for planning the steps important in quality improvement implementation. This is useful when the team has decided a project and they are in the process of implementation. It is important in scheduling events to complete the improvement activity. The gant chart break down the implementation plan, estimate the duration of each task, arranges in logical sense and assesses each stage individually (Gopal, Kanji & Ashir 1996, p. 46). This is shown in the following figure;Customer's Contingency TableThis is used to understand the requirements of internal and external consumers so as to develop a plan for consumer satisfaction. It is used when a team needs to understand consumer satisfaction so as to avoid failure of customer satisfaction. The way to utilize this method is to list needs of external and internal consumers and analyzing. The table would compare the needs of two groups of customers so as to arrive at ideas that will be satisfactory to both customer groups. It is done as in the figure below (Gopel, Kanji & Ashir 1996, p. 37).Deming Wheel (PDCA)This Deming suggestion uses a cycle of planning, doing, checking and acting to satisfy quality requirements. The inventions and new developments are out of consumer requirements. To utilize this method, an individual should develop teamwork for various business processes like product development, production, distribution and feedback collection (Gopel, Kanji & Ashir 1996, p. 39). It appears as in the following figure;Importance of Quality Improvement for OrganizationsThe quality is important to any organization because it promotes customer satisfaction and loyalty which lead to good business performance of any business. Improved quality in any business means better advantage in terms of competition. This is because it trade barriers are reduced and a company is able to cross country boundaries out of quality products (Pieter, Grobler & Warnich 2005, p. 21). A business with best quality service will enjoy a well known brand name that will ensure the company going concern and profitability is maintained. The confidence of consumers will dwell on the company and new companies may not be able to catch up with the competition. Therefore quality is an important part of any business including the said police company.Recommendations to Improve Quality PerformanceThe management needs to be in the forefront to improve the quality of service and products so as to benefit from quality. There should be a total commitment by the management because their actions influence the whole staff of an organization. There should be more trainings on the value of quality so that employees of an organization understand its need since they are directly involved. The teachings should be emphasized because even some managers disregard the importance of quality. Thus success of quality improvement is on training and eductaion (Pieter, Grobler & Warnich 2005, p. 21).The use of technology should also be implemented in the quality improvement. The technical functions and departments of organizations should be engaged in developing programs that meet the dynamic customer requirements (Pieter, Grobler & Warnich 2005, p. 21). The use of technology enables huge data of customers to be analyzed and outcome will give a more reliable conclusion. Thus it will be beneficial to engage experts in quality development which translates to improved business environment.The concept of quality improvement applies to all businesses including the said police company. The best performance by the police company will come out of quality improvement over several years. Thus we can conclude that an organization without quality management will not succeed in its future prospects. Finally, education and training should take the forefront in quality improvement so as to achieve its purpose.