Republic of the Philippines

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

TAGUIG BRANCH

Module in
Operations
Management and
TQM
(BUMA 20093)
Prepared by:
Carag, Jhomyl S.
Ladringan, Justine Jane R.
Ramos, Mary Joyce D.
Suma, Sittie Ainah G.
BSA 2-1

A.Y. 2019-2020

Faculty/ Facilitator:
Dr. Danilo Valenzuela
Module III: Leadership

Module III
Topic:

Leadership
Definition of TQM
Elements of TQM
Leadership for TQM
Deming’s 14 Points for
Top Management
Ten Strategies for Top
Management

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Module III: Leadership

Objectives

After reading this module, you are expected to:

1. Know the meaning of Leadership and its relation to Total Quality Management
2. Be familiar with the definition and elements of Total Quality Management
3. Understand “Deming’s 14 Points for Top Management”
4. Understand the “Ten Strategies for top Management”

Concepts

“It takes the right leadership to move the performance of the firm to the next
level.”

There are many sources that explain the theory of the Total Quality
Management (TQM) process of the firm. Leadership puts these principles into
action. Without sound leadership, the quality control process would be likely far
less effective.

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Essential Questions

1. What is leadership?
2. What is Total Quality Management and its elements?
3. What is the relationship of Leadership and Total Quality Management?
4. What is “Deming’s 14 Points for Top Management”?
5. What are the strategies applied by the Top Management?

Introduction

There is no universal definition of leaderships and indeed many books have been
devoted to the topic of leadership. Various dictionary provided objective definitions. There
are also notable people that defined it in a more subjective manner.

The success of the implementation of Total Quality Management has been

attributed to an effective leadership. Moreover, managements nowadays aims for an
operational application of TQM in order to achieve their visions and accomplish their
missions. In order to do so, management have studied and applied various techniques
and strategies which will be discussed in this module.

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Lesson Proper

3.1 Leadership
Merriam-Webster dictionary defined leadership as the
following: (a) the office or position of a leader, (b) capacity to lead and (c)
the act or an instance of leading. Additionally, Oxford Learner’s dictionary
emphasized that leadership is having the ability to be a leader or the
qualities a good leader should have.
“Leadership is the catalyst that transforms potential into reality.”
In Newstrom’s “Organizational Behavior: Human Behavior at Work”, leadership is
viewed as the process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically
towards achieving an objective. It is the critical factor that helps an individual or group
identify its goals, and then motivates and assists in achieving the stated goal.
One word that has been associated with leadership is “management”. The two
terms are both related to governance, but each of them has their own focus. In order to
grasp their difference, a Table 1 is provided for easier comparison.
Table 1. Leadership vs. Management
Leadership Management
“Lead people” “Manage actions”
Leaders: Managers:
 Inspire others to share their vision  Plans and budgets
 Motivate others to act on that  Organizes and allocates
vision resources
 Encourage others and help them  Coordinates and solves problems
overcome obstacles in pursuit of
that vision

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Illustration 1. Covey’s 7 Habit of Highly Effective People

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One of the concepts that have been linked with leadership is Stephen Covey’s The
7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This is an intensive, application-oriented learning
experience that focuses on the fundamentals of great leadership and its execution.
Habit 1– Be Proactive
Being proactive means taking responsibility for your life– the ability to choose the
responses to a situation. Proactive behavior is the outcome of conscious choice based
on values whereas reactive behavior is based on feelings. Proactive people let
carefully thought about, selected and internalized values tell them how to respond.

Habit 2– Begin with the End in Mind

This is the habit of vision, objectives, and mission. If you want to have a successful
organization, you begin with a plan that will produce the appropriate end. Thus,
leadership is the first creation and management is the second. Leadership means
doing the right things and management means doing things right.

Habit 3– Put First Things First

To prioritize your work, focus on what’s important, meaning - the things that bring you
closer to your vision of the future. This habit has to do with integrity, discipline, sticking
to your agreements. What is life about, and how do you wish to shape your own life?
Knowing this, you will get to work pro-actively while setting the right priorities. The
second big step is that of independence to (self-selected) interdependence.

Habit 4– Think Win-Win

Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human
interactions. The ideas is to work effectively and efficiently with others to achieve
optimal results. A win-win mentality is a balancing act between courage and
consideration that ensures true collaboration takes place in all conflicts.

Habit 5– Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood

It focuses on learning how the other person sees the world, how they feel etc. The
essence of empathic listening is not that you agree with someone. It is that you fully
and deeply understand the person, emotionally as well as intellectually.

Habit 6– Synergy
Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation and can only be achieved by valuing the
diverse paradigms and opinions of others. In a synergistic environment, true
collaboration takes place because the whole is always greater than the sum of its
parts.

Habit 7– Sharpen the Saw (Renewal)

The last, seventh habit of the seven habits of highly effective people is maintenance -
continuously improvement and renewal. This is the habit that revitalizes and helps
establish greater capacity for self-improvement.

3.2 Definition of TQM

Total quality management (TQM) is a structured approach to overall
organizational management. The focus of the process is to improve the quality of an
organization's outputs, including goods and services, through continual improvement
of internal practices. Total quality management aims to hold all parties involved in the
production process accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service.

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TQM focuses on ensuring that internal guidelines and process standards reduce
errors. Total quality is a description of the culture, attitude and organization of a company
that strives to provide customers with products and services that satisfy their needs.

It is a framework based on the belief that an organization can build long-term

success by having all its members, from low-level workers to its highest ranking
executives, focus on improving quality and, thus, delivering customer satisfaction
and customer loyalty. TQM requires organizations to focus on continuous improvement,
or kaizen. It focuses on process improvements over the long term, rather than simply
emphasizing short-term financial gains.

W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M. Juran, and Armand V. Feigenbaum jointly

developed the concept of total quality management. Total Quality management originated
in the manufacturing sector, but can be applied to almost all organizations.

3.3 Elements of TQM

Illustration 2. Elements of TQM

These elements can be divided into four groups according to their function. The groups
are:

I. Foundation
TQM is built on a foundation of ethics, integrity and trust. It fosters openness,
fairness and sincerity and allows involvement by everyone. This is the key to
unlocking the ultimate potential of TQM.
• Ethics
Ethics is an element that is concerned with the understanding of the
good and bad in any situation at the workplace. It is a two-faceted subject
represented by organizational and individual ethics. Ethics of an
organization set up the business code which outlines the guidelines that
every employee is expected to follow. Individual ethics include personal
rights or wrongs.

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• Integrity
Integrity refers to honesty, values and an individual’s sincerity at
workplace. It involves respecting fellow workers and the policies of the
organization. This is one of the important characteristics for which the
customers expect. Avoid spreading unnecessary rumors about your fellow
workers. Total Quality Management does not work in an environment
where employees criticize and backstab each other.

• Trust
The by-product of ethical conduct and integrity is trust. It stimulates
complete participation of all members in the organization. Trust improves
relationship among employees and eventually helps in better decision
making which further helps in implementing total quality management
successfully.

II. Building Bricks

Bricks are placed on a strong foundation to reach the roof of recognition. The
foundation needs to be strong enough to hold the bricks and support and reach
the roof.

• Training
Training is very important for employees to be highly productive.
This responsibility falls solely on the supervisors who are responsible for
implementing Total Quality Management in their respective departments.
Employees must be trained under decision making, problem-solving,
interpersonal skills, technical skills, and business economics and so on.
This is done so that the employees can work effectively and produce
efficient results for the company.

• Teamwork
Rather than working individually, employees need to work in teams.
When individuals work in unison, they are in a position to brainstorm ideas
and come up with various solutions which would improve existing
processes and systems. Team members ought to help each other to find a
solution and put into place. It helps the business to receive effective and
efficient solutions to the problems. Teams also provide a permanent
improvement in process and operation. There are mainly three types of
teams that TQM organizations adopt:
a) Quality improvement teams or excellence teams (QITs)
– These are temporary teams with the purpose of dealing
with specific problems that often recur. These teams are set
up for period of three to twelve months.
b) Problem solving teams (PSTs) – These are temporary
teams to solve certain problems and also to identify and
overcome causes of problems. They generally last from one
week to three months.
c) Natural work teams (NWTs) – These teams consist of
small groups of skilled workers who share tasks and
responsibilities. These teams use concepts such as
employee involvement teams, self-managing teams and

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quality circles. These teams generally work for one to two

hours a week.

• Leadership
It is possibly the most important element in TQM. It appears
everywhere in organization. This is one of the crucial elements which must
be constructive, effective and positive. Leadership provides a direction to
the entire process of Total Quality Management. Total Quality Management
needs to have a supervisor who acts as a strong source of inspiration for
other members and can assist them in decision making. A leader himself
needs to believe in the entire process of TQM for others to believe in the
same.
III. Binding Mortar
Binding mortar is an element which binds all the other elements together. The
key element of this category is Communication.

• Communication
It binds everything together. Starting from foundation to roof of the
TQM house, everything is bound by strong mortar of communication. It acts
as a vital link between all elements of TQM. Communication means a
common understanding of ideas between the sender and the receiver.
Information needs to be passed on from the sender to the recipient in its
desired form. It is necessary to make sure that all the levels of
communication among the suppliers, member and the customers are kept
open. The communication among employees or the members of the
organization is done in three ways. They are:
a) Downward communication – This is the dominant form of
communication in an organization. Flow of information takes
place from the management to the employees.
Presentations and discussions basically do it. By this the
supervisors are able to make the employees clear about
TQM.
b) Upward communication – Flow of information takes place
from the employees to the top level management. By this
the lower level of employees are able to provide suggestions
to upper management of the effects of TQM. As employees
provide insight and constructive criticism, supervisors must
listen effectively to correct the situation that comes about
through the use of TQM. This forms a level of trust between
supervisors and employees. This is also similar to
empowering communication, where supervisors keep open
ears and listen to others.
c) Sideways communication – Communication also takes
place between various departments. This type of
communication is important because it breaks down barriers
between departments. It also allows dealing with customers
and suppliers in a more professional manner.
IV. Roof
The roof consists of a final element which tops off all the other elements of
TQM. It is called recognition.

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• Recognition
This element involves the suggestions and achievements for the
teams and the individuals including positive feedback and encouragement.
Employees strive to receive recognition for themselves and their teams. As
people are recognized, there can be huge changes in self-esteem,
productivity, quality and the amount of effort exhorted to the task at hand.
Recognition comes in its best form when it is immediately following an
action that an employee has performed. Recognition comes in different
ways, places and time such as:
a) Ways – It can be by way of personal letter from top
management. Also by award banquets, plaques, trophies
etc.
b) Places – Good performers can be recognized in front of
departments, on performance boards and also in front of top
management.
c) Time – Recognition can be given at any time like in staff
meeting, annual award banquets, etc.

These elements help an organization to effectively implement total quality and

ensure they meet all the requirements of its customers. This helps them to focus on
customer satisfaction and can help in the growth of the organization. We can conclude
that these eight elements are key in ensuring the success of TQM in an organization and
that the supervisor is a huge part in developing these elements in the work place. Without
these elements, the business entities cannot be successful TQM implementers. It is very
clear from the above discussion that TQM without involving integrity, ethics and trust would
be a great remiss, in fact it would be incomplete. Training is the key by which the
organization creates a TQM environment. Leadership and teamwork go hand in hand.
Lack of communication between departments, supervisors and employees create a
burden on the whole TQM process. Last but not the least, recognition should be given to
people who contributed to the overall completed task. Hence, lead by example, train
employees to provide a quality product, create an environment where there is no fear to
share knowledge, and give credit where credit is due is the motto of a successful TQM
organization.

3.4 Leadership for TQM

“It is the leader’s responsibility to lead continuous improvement
activities – find ways of doing things a little more better each time”

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award has a more

grounded definition of leaderships in its core values. The said definition
integrates the characteristics of a quality leader and integrates it to the
fulfillment of TQM. As stated in its core values and concepts, visionary leadership is as
follows:

“An organization’s senior leaders should set directions and create a customer
focus, clear and visible values, and high expectations. The directions, values and
expectations should balance the needs of all your stakeholders. Your leaders should
ensure the creation of strategies, systems and methods for achieving excellence,
stimulating innovation and building knowledge and capabilities. The values and strategies
should help guide all activities and decisions of your organization. Senior leaders should

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inspire and motivate your entire workforce and should encourage all employees to
contribute, to develop and learn, to be innovative and to be creative.

Senior leaders should serve as role models through their ethical behavior and their
personal involvement in planning, communication, coaching, development of future
leaders, review of organizational performance and employee recognition
As role models, they can reinforce values and expectations while building
leaderships, commitment and initiative throughout your organization.”

To easily understand the given definition, these are 12 behaviors or characteristics

that successful quality leaders demonstrate.
1. They give priority attention to external and internal Customers and their needs.
Leaders place themselves in the customers’ shoes and service their needs from
that perspective. They continually evaluate the customers’ changing requirements.
2. They empower, rather than control, subordinates.
Leaders have trust and confidence in the performance of their subordinates. They
provide the resources, training, and work environment to help subordinates do their
jobs. However, the decision to accept responsibility lies with the individual.
3. They emphasize improvement rather than maintenance.
Leaders use the phrase “if it isn’t perfect, improve it” rather than “if it isn’t broke,
don’t fix it.” There is always room for improvement, even if the improvement is small.
Major breakthroughs sometimes happen, but it’s the little ones that keep the
continuous process improvement on a positive track.
4. They emphasize prevention.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is certainly true. It is also true
that perfection can the enemy of creativity. We can’t always wait until we have created
the perfect process or product. There must be a balance between preventing problems
and developing better, but not perfect, processes.
5. They encourage collaboration rather than competition.
When functional areas, departments, or work groups are in competition, they may
find subtle ways of working against each other or withholding information. Instead,
there must be collaboration among and within units.
6. They train and coach, rather than direct and supervise.
Leaders know that the development of the human resource is a necessity. As
coaches, they help their subordinates learn to do a better job.
7. They learn from problems.
When a problem exists, it is treated as an opportunity rather than something to be
minimized or covered up. “What caused it?” and “How can we prevent it in the future?”
are the questions quality leaders ask.
8. They continually try to improve communications.
Leaders continually disseminate information about the TQM effort. They make it
evident that TQM is not just a slogan. Communication is two way–ideas will be
generated by people when leaders encourage them and act upon them. For example,
on the eve of Desert Storm, General Colin Powell solicited enlisted men and women
for advice on winning the war. Communication is the glue that holds a TQM
organization together.
9. They continually demonstrate their commitment to quality.
Leaders walk their talk– their actions, rather than their words, communicate their
level of commitment. They let the quality statements be their decision-making guide.
10. They choose suppliers on the basis of quality, not price.

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Suppliers are encouraged to participate on project teams and become involved.

Leaders know that quality begins with quality materials and the true measure is the
life-cycle cost.
11. They establish organizational systems to support the quality effort.
At the senior management level a quality council is provided, and at the first line
supervisor level, work groups and project teams are organized to improve the process.
12. They encourage and recognize team effort.
They encourage, provide recognition and reward individuals and teams. Leaders
know that people like to know that their contributions are appreciated and important.
This action is one of the leader’s most powerful tools.

There are many sources that explain the theory of the Total Quality Management
(TQM) process of the firm. Leadership puts these principles into action. Without sound
leadership, the quality control process would be likely far less effective. A firm may have
all the industry "best practices" employed, but it takes internal leadership to take quality
management to a level that will put the firm in the best possible position to succeed.

3.5 Deming’s 14 Points for Top Management

Illustration 3. Demings’s 14 Points for Total Quality Management

Deming’s 14 Points on Quality Management, or the Deming Model of Quality

Management, a core concept on implementing total quality management (TQM), is a set
of management practices to help companies increase their quality and productivity.

Deming's 14 Points for Total Quality Management

1. Create constancy of purpose for improving products and services.
2. Adopt the new philosophy.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.
4. End the practice of awarding business on price alone; instead, minimize total
cost by working with a single supplier.
5. Improve constantly and forever every process for planning, production and
service.
6. Institute training on the job.
7. Adopt and institute leadership.
8. Drive out fear.
9. Break down barriers between staff areas.

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10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the workforce.

11. Eliminate numerical quotas for the workforce and numerical goals for
management.
12. Remove barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship, and eliminate the
annual rating or merit system.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement for everyone.
14. Put everybody in the company to work accomplishing the transformation.

These total quality management principles can be put into place by any
organization to more effectively implement total quality management. As a total quality
management philosophy, Dr. Deming’s work is foundational to TQM and its
successor, quality management systems.

How to Use Deming’s 14 Points to Improve Quality

Quality management is a topic that is close to any business owner and manager’s
heart. Whatever business we undertake, we want to do it well – and if we can be the best,
outdoing all our competitors, so much the better. Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a respected
academic, engineer, business consultant, and author also felt that quality was the key to
success. He suggested what is today known as Deming’s 14 points.

Dr. Deming is credited with having a profound influence on Japan’s rise to

economic prominence after the Second World War, and he is still remembered through
the Deming Prize for Total Quality Management. So what were these fourteen points?
Let’s take a closer look at each one of them.

1. “Constancy of Purpose” towards Product and Service Improvement

Deming believed that remaining competitive in the market required “constancy
of purpose” towards quality. He saw this, not as a short-term commitment or a luxury,
but as a long-term philosophy that would ensure business survival. When considering
Deming’s 14 points, it’s important to remember that this one is about planning for long-
term delivery of quality.
Reactive, short-term solutions can only have a short-term effect. According to
Deming, a more farsighted approach is needed. Doing the same things better is all very
well, but Deming believed that businesses should also innovate, conduct research, and
continually improve product design.
Most importantly of all, he reminds businesses that the results of their activities
are for the benefit of the customer, and therefore, the customer’s needs should come
first when making business decisions. After all, without customers, no business can
survive.
Since customer needs change over time, it’s up to businesses to prepare for new
challenges, and whatever we do, the goal of continually doing it better should be
foremost in our minds.

2. Adopt a New Philosophy

Producing quality requires much more than lip-service. The constancy of
purpose must be supported by a buy-in to quality that runs right through the organization.
Achieving this requires more than traditional management. It requires leadership. That
means that staff should be inspired to support quality rather than needing to be forced
to do so.
In other words, Deming’s 14 points support building a culture of quality with a
commitment from every person in your business. At the time, Deming predicted

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that moving from a traditional management focus to a leadership focus would be a

change in the way we do business. That was back in 1982. Today, we see the truth of
his prediction taking shape in the business world.
Just as we have a vision for the future of our businesses, we should have a vision
for the quality we want to deliver. Once this is in place, we can strategize so that we can
realize our vision. Reactive changes made because of competitive pressure don’t
necessarily result in improvements that put the customer first. Deming encourages us
to treat quality management as a strategic priority that leads to the fulfillment of customer
needs.
Deming suggested practical interventions including proper training for staff, full
management support when help is needed, proper supervision, and planning for
management continuity.

3. Build Quality In – You Can’t Inspect It In

Deming wasn’t impressed by the idea of after-the-fact quality control. He
encouraged businesses to stop depending on inspections to get quality. He pointed out
that inspections can miss defects, that they are costly, and that they don’t improve quality
because all they can do is find poor quality.
Instead, he recommended building quality into every process a business
undertakes. Finding faults may prevent harm to a business, but it’s not good enough.
Instead, we should track them down and change processes so that similar faults can’t
happen ever again.
Those of us who aren’t fond of math might balk at Deming’s insistence on
using statistical controls on processes and not only physical ones, but numbers don’t lie.
If you aren’t that keen on learning how to generate valid statistics, don’t worry. Smart
software can do the number-crunching for you.
What are you aiming for will all this? We can sum it up by saying that improving
processes to eliminate errors is far better and less costly than trying to correct errors
after they have already occurred.

4. Use Single Suppliers for Any Item

How often have you heard that a supplier is to blame for poor quality? Perhaps
you’ve experienced it yourself. You found a cheaper supplier only to find that the quality
or reliability of the materials or services you received was lacking. You can blame your
suppliers all you like, but at the end of the day, it’s your business’s reputation that suffers.
Deming points out that the relationship between a business and its suppliers
should be a mutually beneficial one. The business should be willing to pay more for
quality. When this happens, the supplier can meet the business’s needs because it has
the resources to do so. Nobody is trying to drive prices down while still expecting the
best for less.
Instead, Deming suggests that businesses should build long-term relationships
with suppliers. Focus on one supplier for each input, and there is greater motivation for
the supplier to meet your business’s needs and even go the extra mile.
You can also expect greater consistency. Perhaps there will still be variations in
supply that you need to deal with, but the more suppliers you work with, the more
variation there will be and the harder it will be to manage quality.
Suppliers can become part of your never-ending drive towards improvement, but
to do so, there must be a stable relationship characterized by trust.

5. Improve Processes Constantly. Improve Them Forever

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In this point, Deming encourages businesses to continuously analyze and

improve the way they perform processes. He points out that by improving productivity
and training its staff so that they’re able to deliver their best, a business also improves
its profits.
For many busy managers and business owners, this may seem like a daunting
prospect. Just when you thought everything was perfect, it turns out that something
could be done better. The temptation to adopt a short-term fix is great. But Deming points
out that we can fix flaws in our business processes permanently. Once we’ve done that,
we can move on to the next process improvement secure in the knowledge that the last
issue we uncovered won’t be a problem ever again.
Back in the eighties, it would probably have been very difficult for businesses,
especially small ones, to constantly keep tabs on every process. Today, Business
Process Management software makes your task a whole lot easier. And when you need
to tweak a process, doing so is as simple as editing the business process you set up.
The workflow automatically adjusts to the change.

6. Use On-The-Job Training

As business people, we’re inclined to view training as being costly. Apart from
the expense of sending people on courses, there’s the productive time lost while they
return. And unless you choose the training carefully, you aren’t necessarily going to get
tangible results from it.
Deming’s 14 points return to the training theme on several occasions, but his
emphasis is on-the-job training. The aim of training should be quality improvement, and
that means reducing variation and getting consistent, predictable results.
You also don’t want all the knowledge of a process, or even part of it, to rest with
only one or two people. If you do so, your business is at risk. Deming encourages
knowledge-sharing, and he exhorts managers to let their staff see how they fit into a
process rather than just giving them work to do.
In practice, there are several ways we can do this, beginning with the employee
onboarding process. If people know where they fit into a team, and how the team’s
results depend on their work, they are far more likely to care about the results they
achieve.
The concept of training extends to management. Although you don’t need to
know all the details of how to do every job, you do need to understand what people do,
and what obstacles to quality your team members face. Armed with this knowledge, you
can work to eliminate obstacles to quality.

7. Use Leadership Skill

According to Deming, managers and supervisors should focus on leadership
rather than the traditional management style that calls for tight supervision and a very
formal organizational structure.
Instead, Deming encourages understanding, collaboration, and a coaching
approach to management. You will always need a certain level of supervision in a
business, but working to help people deliver their best is more effective than taking
punitive action when you don’t see the results you wanted.
A well-lead team will do more than just keep their heads down and work. They
become part of your quality management team. They ask for help, make suggestions,
and point out stumbling-blocks you may not have noticed.
Setting and meeting targets and quotas is all very well, but is your team meeting
its potential? As a leader, you empower them to do so. You don’t just talk and expect
others to “do,” you listen, you understand, and you act. You create an environment in

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which people can realize their potential. You motivate them to want to do their best, and
they deliver their best.

8. Drive out Fear

Were you ever a junior employee who was scared of the boss? Perhaps you had
a teacher at school who terrified you. Could you deliver your best under these
conditions?
There were probably times when you had questions you were too afraid to ask
and opinions you kept to yourself. And the more that boss or teacher reacted to your
mistakes, the more mistakes you made. Then you’d try to cover up those mistakes,
hoping against hope that they wouldn’t be picked up. That’s what fear does. Fear is not
conducive to quality.
You, your managers, and your supervisors need to share an understanding of
the need to drive out fear. Your employees should feel free to report problems, own up
to their mistakes without being asked about them first, and know that you’re there to
make things better without resorting to punitive measures.
As a manager, always address the problem, not the person. Work with
employees to find solutions, and share your quality goals so that they know what you’re
trying to achieve. Remember, some of your best quality and process improvement
suggestions come from the coalface – but if you don’t have open lines of communication,
you’re never going to hear those suggestions.

9. Break Down the Barriers Between Departments

When people work as a team, they can achieve more than they would on their
own. Although your company will have departments, they can’t work in isolation. If
product designers never work with production, and if production doesn’t work with sales,
your organization is never going to reach its potential.
True, your designer isn’t about to become a salesperson, but without input from
the product’s designer, your salesperson won’t be able to sell effectively.
What are the product’s special features? How do they meet customer needs?
And since your sales team is in direct contact with customers all day, every day,
shouldn’t product designers talk to the sales team before they even begin work on a new
product design?
Meanwhile, the production also needs to be part of the loop. Does the production
team foresee any problems in producing the new design? By working together,
departments can spot possible problems and eliminate them before they ever occur.
Deming recommends that departments recognize, communicate with, and serve
the departments that are the “clients” of their work as well as keeping end-users of
products or services in mind.

10. Ditch Slogans and Communicate With Individuals

Slogans sound so nifty, but do they have any real effect? “We put the customer
first” is a typical example. It sounds great, but what is its practical meaning? How does
it apply to every worker in your internal value chain?
How about “Let’s try harder”? If you’re already doing your level best, you aren’t
going to be happy about being told to make some mysterious change to the way you
work.
Deming is alive to the resentments that generalized catch-phrases and
exhortations to ever better performance can cause. He points out that any productivity
or quality problems you face won’t be fixed with a slogan. Instead, you need to look

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into business process improvement. If your processes work well, then your business is
already delivering good quality and working productively.
We also can’t expect generalized goals to become personal ones. Deming
recommends setting individualized goals for every person, and along with the new goals,
there needs to be a roadmap that shows them how to achieve them.
Simply put, reducing defects means finding out where they occur and how the
process allows them to occur. Increasing productivity means identifying obstacles to
productivity and removing them. Use tools like Fishbone Diagrams to help you get down
to root causes before you suggest solutions.

11. Quotas are Incompatible with Quality in Production

It’s true that you need to have some numerical targets, but for too many
companies, setting a quota becomes a replacement for good leadership. In Deming’s
opinion, high production targets make quality suffer. For instance, if you are production
line worker and you get paid per piece, you will finish as many pieces as possible. You
are working as fast as you can, but are you working as well as you can?
Again, Deming urges us to focus on processes. A well-designed process should
deliver the results we want. If it doesn’t, then the process needs attention. He reminds
us that good leadership will encourage people to feel proud of their work. They already
want to perform well. It’s up to management to create an environment in which they can
do so.
Do numbers go out the window? They do not. But instead of measuring the
people who do the work with quotas, the numbers should be used to evaluate the
process.
Some thinkers point out that numbers can serve as a motivating factor,
particularly in sales environments, but Management by Objectives should be
approached with caution. When you set a numerical target, are you encouraging people
to take shortcuts that will affect quality? What behavior would you prefer to motivate?
Remember, what you measure is what you get.
Finally, if you want to set a numerical goal, be very sure you know how your
business can reach it. Without a plan and a method, numbers are meaningless.

12. Remove Barriers that Prevent Teams from Feeling Proud of Their Work
Deming believed that taking pride in one’s work is essential to quality and
process improvement. You’ve probably experienced this yourself. When you love what
you do, you do it better, and you feel good about the results. But if people are constantly
criticizing you and comparing you to others, you stop enjoying what you previously loved.
It’s natural that some workers will acquire skills faster than others, and it’s natural
that they will get better results than their counterparts. While it’s great to recognize
achievements, the rest of the team should never feel judged or be made to feel that they
are valued less than others are. Deming says that the quality system will ultimately get
everyone working according to the same standard.
Process problems also cause workplace frustration. You’re expected to deliver
X output, but to do so, you need Y input, and Z tools would help you to get your job done
more easily. If you don’t have the right inputs and the right tools, delivering X becomes
a daily nightmare. Are you to blame? No, the process needs fixing so that you have the
tools and inputs you need.
Let’s take the analogy further. You’ve been struggling with your job for the last
year because the process you’re working in is flawed. When it comes to your
performance appraisal, the numbers show that your work is barely acceptable. How

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much do you love what you do right now? Meanwhile, a colleague who constantly makes
mistakes gets praised because the numbers look good.
Deming makes a tough call on managers. As a leader, your job is to help other
people do their jobs by creating systems that work. If someone falls outside of the
system, you have to correct that, but if they’re working inside the system, you need to
work with them to figure out where the system fails.

13. Encourage Education and Self-Improvement

While Deming talks about on-the-job training first, he also advocates personal
growth through continued education. When people are learning things that are relevant
to their jobs or your business, their skills improve, and they are better able to face the
challenges your business faces in the present and the future.
Just as exercise makes a body more agile, education helps us to improve our
thinking processes. It’s up to you what kind of educational programs you’re willing to
sponsor in full, but if your employees want to improve themselves in other areas, it’s
great if you can find ways to support them. Remember, your business isn’t always going
to stay the same, and the new skills your employees gain could prove helpful in the
longer-term.
The better the quality of the skills-sets your business has its disposal, says
Deming, the better the overall product and service quality you can deliver.

14. Make Transformation Everybody’s Job

Dr. Deming points out that if you want to improve quality or productivity, you need
to look to your systems rather than your people. But when it comes to finding solutions,
he advocates getting as much input as possible from the people who carry out the
process.
He suggests using business process notation such as a flowchart to capture
processes as they are. Next, we can ask people to help us think about how we can
change processes to improve the quality of their outputs. And since each step in a
process impacts on subsequent ones, preparing for transformation becomes
everybody’s job.
Finally, when the time comes to implement change, your team is ready to make
it happen. Perhaps members will spot a few extras that could work better, and they won’t
be afraid to share their observations. You now have the beginnings of a culture of
excellence where improvement is ongoing, and the sky’s the limit!

Putting Deming’s 14 Points into Action

Deming doesn’t go into detail about how to effect change, but his philosophies
have had a profound influence on the world of business. From a practical perspective,
using Deming’s 14 points as an overarching philosophy will result in change – and it will
be a change for the better.
With modern workflow software, implementing the process changes that stem from
adopting Deming’s thinking becomes easier. There’s no need for staff to remember every
change and every tweak when they receive full instructions for process tasks through. And
when the team decides that this or that detail could work more efficiently, making the
change part of the way the team always work is as simple as changing, removing, or
adjusting a process step.

3.5 Ten Strategies for Top Management

1. Proactive Management

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They have to foresee what will happen in the future and take advance
action. It also deals with “Proper management needs proper system”

2. Adventurous and Bold Change Management

Nobody like change. Humans by nature resist change even that change is
going to make them much for comfortable. But in order to have progress, an
organization must be subject to changes to further improve. Successful people are
those who have taken challenges beyond expectation. The adventurous and bold
change management depends on the personal qualities of the CEO. The CEO
should motivate and encourage his colleagues to change the unproductive ways
of an organization.

3. DIRFT (Do It Right First Time)

CEO’s should carry out the following sequence of activities:
a. Plan
b. Foresee the impact
c. Take others opinion
d. Involve everyone concerned
e. Implement
f. Persist
• Why people don’t do it right first time?
a. People doesn’t know what to do clearly.
b. He is not motivated to do It right.
c. Doesn’t have necessary education or training to do
it right.
d. Senior trained him the wrong way.
e. He is not proud.
f. He doesn’t get appreciated.
• Basic requirements for DIRFT
a. Right the first time and every time.
b. Set right goals.
c. Select right personnel.
d. Establish right processes, Choose durability.
e. Choose right machinery.

4. Continuous Preventive Action

Prevention is better than cure. When a product or service is delivered and
found some defects, the customer is not satisfied. Like other TQM principle,
prevented actions have to be continuous.

5. Care for Little Things and Accumulate Gains

TQM is a continuous process improvement program and aims one step at
a time. Every employee should take care or maintain every tool whatever may be
its cost or importance. Also, the management should find times to communicate
with junior employees.

6. Ensure Economic Performances

Focusing on the importance of economic performance quality should
increase productivity.

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7. Management by Walking Around.

Getting direct and first-hand information from the customers, employees
and the suppliers.

8. Measures for success.

The three Ps stand for
➤ people
➤ product
➤ process
When implementing total quality management
(TQM), all three parameters should be improved.

9. Never Rest on Past Laurels.

As a leader you are effectively an agent for change. You must:
✓ Constantly review everything (including procedures, systems and
policies) to anticipate what needs changing
✓ Involve your team in this position, both in identifying areas for change and
in promoting ideas about how change should be made
✓ Always be open-minded, and create a culture of open-mindedness
amongst your team.

10. Build Virtual Organization.

The ultimate goal of the virtual organization is to provide innovative, high-
quality products or services instantaneously in response to customer demands.
Requirements for Virtual Enterprise.
a. Identify the most critical parts.
b. Identify other parts.
c. Develop vendors for other parts.
d. Continuously increase sub-contracting.

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