Role of manager in implementing TQM

Total Quality Management or TQM creates a strategic focus across an entire

organization on continuous improvement based on customer needs. Beginning in
the 1980s and reaching its greatest popularity in the 1990s, TQM served as a
predecessor to Quality Management and Six Sigma initiatives. To succeed in
changing corporate culture by applying TQM requires management involvement
and support.
You need to be convinced first why quality is such an important parameter in
every business. If you yourself are not convinced, it would be very difficult for you
to convince other departments for implementing TQM. Know who your
customers are? Understand your target market carefully. Go out, meet customers
and find out as to what all they expect from your brand. Customer feedbacks play
an important role in formulating strategies for total quality management. As a
manager; you need to work closely with the senior management, human resource
professionals to develop foolproof implementation strategies. Remember, a
manager has to act as a bridge between the senior management and the entire
workforce.
Instigator
Initiating a TQM program with its associated costs and cultural change requires
commitment from senior managers. Before beginning a TQM program, executives
from corporate and division management need training in core TQM techniques
and access to data that demonstrate the productivity and cost benefit of the
approach. Following training, senior management should appoint a TQM manager
or instigator to develop an implementation strategy and work with human
resources to create employee training programs. Select a manager with the ability
to command resources and with direct and frequent access to senior
management.
Facilitator
The TQM manager needs to create a team of line managers knowledgeable about
TQM to support and communicate the core principles and behaviors expected in a
TQM-based organization. The facilitators assist in acquiring resources, making
time available for training, and recognizing and rewarding individual employees
for their quality efforts and continuous improvement ideas. It is the job of the line
managers to facilitate adoption of TQM in their areas and remove barriers to
implementation.
Trainer
Using managers to train employees in TQM, rather than using outside consultants
or human resource trainers, communicates the perceived importance of TQM to
the company. Being required to teach TQM leads to greater competence in the
management staff, because they must understand the approach and techniques
to teach them to employees. If managers cannot teach the entire TQM course,
they should reinforce the importance of each training class by introducing the
training and restating executive commitment to the process. Managers should
present TQM-based planning and results during routine staff meetings and
individual performance reviews.
Role Model
Managers must practice TQM, in addition to preaching it, by using data collection
and planning tools such as flow charts, cause-and-effect diagrams, Pareto and
control charts. Use customer preference data to drive decision-making. Provide
frequent reports to staff and senior management highlighting continuous
improvement in key performance indicators.
 PDCA Cycle
PDCA is an iterative, four-stage approach for continually improving processes,
products or services, and for resolving problems. It involves systematically
testing possible solutions, assessing the results, and implementing the ones
that are shown to work.
PDCA cycle was developed by renowned management consultant Dr William
Edwards Deming in the 1950s.
The four phases are:
 Plan: identify and analyze the problem or opportunity, develop
hypotheses about what the issues may be, and decide which one to test.
A well-defined project plan provides the framework from which to operate.
Importantly, it should reflect the organization’s mission and values. It
should also map the project's goals and clearly indicate the best way to
meet them.
 Do: test the potential solution, ideally on a small scale, and measure the
results. This the step where the plan is set in motion. The plan was made
for a reason, so it is important for players to execute it as outlined. This
stage can be broken down into three sub-segments, including training of all
personnel involved in the project, the actual process of doing the work and
recording insights, or data, for future evaluation.Remember that, in this
situation, Do means "try" or "test." It doesn't mean "implement fully,"
which happens at the Act stage.
 Check/Study: study the result, measure effectiveness, and decide whether
the hypothesis is supported or not. At this stage, you analyze your pilot
project's results against the expectations that you defined in Step 1 to
assess whether the idea has worked or not. If it hasn't worked, you return
to Step 1. If it has worked, you go on to Step 4.
 Act: if the solution was successful, implement it. This is where you
implement your solution. But remember that PDCA / PDSA is a loop, not a
process with a beginning and an end. This means that your improved
process or product becomes the new baseline, and you continue to look for
ways to make it even better for your organization or customers.
The Plan-do-check-act cycle (Figure 1) is a four-step model for carrying out
change. Just as a circle has no end, the PDCA cycle should be repeated again and
again for continuous improvement. The PDCA cycle is considered a project
planning tool.
WHEN SHOULD YOU USE THE PDCA CYCLE?
Use the PDCA cycle when:
 Starting a new improvement project
 Developing a new or improved design of a process, product, or service
 Defining a repetitive work process
 Planning data collection and analysis in order to verify and prioritize
problems or root causes
 Implementing any change
 Working toward continuous improvement
Pros and Cons
The model is a simple, yet powerful way to resolve new and recurring issues
in any industry, department or process.
can improve efficiency and productivity in a controlled way, without the risks of
making large scale, untested changes to your processes.
However, going through the PDCA / PDSA cycle can be much slower than a
straightforward, "gung ho" implementation. So, it might not be the appropriate
approach for dealing with an urgent problem or emergency.
 Strategic quality planning process.
Total Quality Management is an approach an organization takes to improve quality
and meet customer requirements by controlling processes.

Strategic planning is a process an organization uses to prioritize and focus the

efforts of the company as well as the implementation of a plan. A company uses
strategic planning to predict and anticipate changes in the business environment
and position the company to respond
Relationship of Strategic planning and TQM:
When an organization chooses to make quality a major competitive edge
(differentiation), it becomes the central issue in strategic planning. This is
especially reflected in vision, mission and policy guidelines of an organization.
An essential idea behind strategic quality planning is that the product is customer
value rather than a physical product or service. This feat cannot be achieved
unless an organization creates a culture of quality and no strategy and plan can be
worthwhile unless it is carefully implemented.

What do you understand by the term quality statements? Elaborate them with examples.

Quality statements are part of strategic planning process and once developed, are occasionally
reviewed and updated.

There are three types of quality statements:

1. Vision statement
2. Mission statement
3. Quality policy statement

The utilization of these statements varies from organization to organization. Small organization may
use only the quality policy statement

1. Vision Statement: The vision statement is a short declaration what an organization aspires to be
tomorrow. A vision statement, on the other hand, describes how the future will look if the
organization achieves its mission.
Successful visions are timeless, inspirational, and become deeply shared within the organization,
such as:

 IBM’s Service
 Apple’s Computing for the masses
 Disney theme park’s the happiest place on the earth, and
 Polaroid’s instant photography

2. Mission Statement: A mission statement concerns what an organization is all about. The statement
answers the questions such as: who we are, who are our customers, what do we do and how do we
do it. This statement is usually one paragraph or less in length, easy to understand, and describes
the function of the organization. It provides clear statement of purpose for employees, customers,
and suppliers.

3. Quality Policy Statement: The quality policy is a guide for everyone in the organization as to how
they should provide products and services to the customers.It should be written by the CEO with
feedback from the workforce and be approved by the quality council. A quality policy is a
requirement of ISO 9000.

How an organization can do strategic quality planning?

The process starts with the principles that quality and customer satisfaction are the center of an
organization’s future. It brings together all the key stakeholders.

The strategic planning can be performed by any organization. It can be highly effective, allowing the
organizations to do the right thing at the right time, every time.

There are seven steps to strategic Quality Planning:

1. Discover customer needs

2. Customer positioning
3. Predict the future
4. Gap analysis
5. Closing the gap
6. Alignment
7. Implementation
1. Customer Needs: The first step is to discover the future needs of the customers. Who will they be?
Will your customer base change? What will they want? How will they want? How will the organization
meet and exceed expectations?

2. Customer Positioning: Next, the planners determine where organization wants to be in relation to
the customers. Do they want to retain, reduce, or expand the customer base. Product or services with
poor quality performance should be targeted for breakthrough or eliminated. The organization’s
needs to concentrate its efforts on areas of excellence.

3. Predict the future: Next planners must look into their crystal balls to predict the future conditions
that will affect their product or service. Demographics, economics forecasts, and technical
assessments or projections are tools that help predict the future.
4. Gap Analysis : This step requires the planner to identify the gaps between the current state and the
future state of the organization. An analysis of the core values and concepts is an excellent technique
for pinpointing gaps.

5. Closing the Gap: The plan can now be developed to close the gap by establishing goals and
responsibilities. All stakeholders should be included in the development of the plan.

6. Alignment: As the plan is developed, it must be aligned with the mission, vision, and core values
and concepts of the organization. Without this alignment, the plan will have little chance of success.

7. Implementation: This last step is frequently the most difficult. Resources must be allocated to
collecting data, designing changes, and overcoming resistance to change. Also part of this step is the
monitoring activity to ensure that progress is being made. The planning group should meet at least
once a year to assess progress and take any corrective action.
 Characteristics of Leadership:

Leadership is a process of influence on a group in a particular situation at a

given point of time, and in a specific set of circumstances that stimulates
people to strive willingly to attain organizational objectives and satisfaction
with the type of leadership provided.

Jame J.Cribbin,

Leadership is a prerequisite to all strategy and action plans. According to

Juran, it cannot be delegated. Those firms that have succeeded in making
total quality work for them have been able to do so because of strong
leadership.

Characteristics:

2. Confidence

A leader should be confident enough to ensure that other follow your commands. If you
are unsure about your own decisions and qualities, then your subordinates will never
follow you. As a leader, you have to be oozing with confidence, show some swagger
and assertiveness to gain the respect of your subordinates. This does not mean that
you should be overconfident, but you should at least reflect the degree of confidence
required to ensure that your followers trust you as a leader.

3. Inspire others:

Probably the most difficult job for a leader is to persuade others to follow. It can only be
possible if you inspire your followers by setting a good example. When the going gets
tough, they look up to you and see how you react to the situation. If you handle it well,
they will follow you. As a leader, should think positive and this positive approach should
be visible through your actions. Stay calm under pressure and keep the motivation level
up. As John Quincy Adams puts it, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn
more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

5. Good communicator:

Until you clearly communicate your vision to your team and tell them the strategy to
achieve the goal, it will be very difficult for you to get the results you want. Simply put, if
you are unable to communicate your message effectively to your team, you can never
be a good leader. A good communicator can be a good leader. Words have the power
to motivate people and make them do the unthinkable. If you use them effectively, you
can also achieve better results.

8. Creativitiy and innovation:

What separates a leader from a follower? Steve Jobs, the greatest visionary of our time
answers this question this way, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a
follower.” In order to get ahead in today’s fast-paced world, a leader must be creative
and innovative at the same time. Creative thinking and constant innovation is what
makes you and your team stand out from the crowd. Think out of the box to come up
with unique ideas and turn those ideas and goals into reality.

Visible, committed, and knowledgeable — They promote the

emphasis on quality and know the details and how well the
company is doing. Personal involvement in education, training,
and recognition. Accessible to and routine contact with employees,
customers, and suppliers.
A missionary zeal — The leaders are trying to effect as much
change as possible through their suppliers, through the government,
and through any other vehicle that promotes quality in the U.S. They
are active in promoting quality outside the company.
Aggressive targets — Going beyond incremental improvements
and looking at the possibility of making large gains, getting the whole
work force thinking about different processes — not just improving
processes.
Strong drivers — Cycle time, zero defects, six sigma, or other targets
to drive improvements. Clearly defined customer satisfaction and
quality improvement objectives.
Communication of values — Effecting cultural change related to
quality. Written policy, mission, guidelines, and other documented
statements of quality values, or other bases for clear and consistent
communications.
Organization — Flat structures that allow more authority at lower
levels. Empowering employees. Managers as coaches rather than
bosses. Cross-functional management processes and focus on internal
as well as external customers. Interdepartmental improvement teams.
Customer contact — CEO and all senior managers are accessible
to customers.
 Advantages of TQM
 Cost reduction. When applied consistently over time, TQM can
reduce costs throughout an organization, especially in the areas of
scrap, rework, field service, and warranty cost reduction. Since these
cost reductions flow straight through to bottom-line profits without any
additional costs being incurred, there can be a startling increase
in profitability.
 Customer satisfaction. Since the company has better products and
services, and its interactions with customers are relatively error-free,
there should be fewer customer complaints. Fewer complaints may
also mean that the resources devoted to customer service can be
reduced. A higher level of customer satisfaction may also lead to
increased market share, as existing customers act on the company's
behalf to bring in more customers.
 Defect reduction. TQM has a strong emphasis on improving quality
within a process, rather than inspecting quality into a process. This
not only reduces the time needed to fix errors, but makes it less
necessary to employ a team of quality assurance personnel.
 Morale. The ongoing and proven success of TQM, and in particular
the participation of employees in that success can lead to a
noticeable improvement in employee morale, which in turn reduces
employee turnover, and therefore reduces the cost of hiring and
training new employees.
 Improved Environmental Impact. Reducing waste will allow the
organizations to reduce their environmental footprint. This will help to
generate a positive corporate image in addition to cost avoidance
associated with lower material and energy usage.
Emphasizing the needs of the market:
TQM helps in highlighting the needs of the market. Its application is universal and
helps the organisation to identify and meet the needs the market in a better way.