CHAPTER 4: WORKFORCE FOCUS

Recap
Quality Planning and Implementation

Introduction to quality

Foundation of Quality
Management

Customer Focus

Workforce Focus
Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)
Learning outcomes:

The student should be able to:

❑ Explain why there is a logical relationship between customer satisfaction

and employee satisfaction

❑ Explain the concept of workforce engagement

❑ Distinguish the different approaches to employee involvement

❑ Apply the key workforce-focused practices for quality

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

The student should be able to:
❑ Define what is empowerment? How does it benefit both the organization

and employees?

❑ the major types of teams found in organization today.

❑ Discuss what issues must organizations consider with respect to health,

safety, and employee well-being in the work environment?

❑ Classify the types of compensation practices that support a performance

excellence philosophy.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Workforce
Deming emphasized that no organization can survive without good
people; people who are improving

The human resource is the only one that competitors cannot copy,
and the only one that can synergize

According to Walter Wriston, former CEO of Citibank, “The person who

figures out how to harness the collective genius of the people in his or
her organization is going to blow the competition away”

Organizations are learning that to satisfy customers, they must

first satisfy the workforce

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

❑ Workforce refers to everyone who is actively involved in

accomplishing the work of an organization

❑ The workforce is an important component of a basic quality system

❑ ISO 9000:2000 includes several workforce –focused requirements

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)
Quality Profile: PRO-TEC Company
“Your success often depends on your ability to
take ownership of your job”

❑ Provides coated steel primarily to the U.S automotive

industry for use in manufacturing cars.
❑ 236 employees.
❑ Developed a unique culture centered around three
fundamental concepts:

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

 OWNERSHIP (right of possessing something.)

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

RESPONSIBILITY (the state or fact of having a duty
to deal with something)

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

ACCOUNTABILITY (the fact or condition of being
accountable; responsibility)

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

.. the company incorporated numerous:
✓ Best management practices.
✓ Lean manufacturing.
✓ Continuous improvement.

And relied on well-trained, self-directed, empowered

workforce to help the company become an industry leader.

“The company’s commitment to associate quality of life

through safety, education and training, and above-average
compensation...”

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Baldrige Award Deming Prize European Quality Award
Leadership Policy Leadership
Strategic planning Organization and Policy and strategy
operations
Customer and market Collecting and using People management
focus information analysis
Information and analysis Planning for the future Resources
Human resource focus Education and training Processes
Process management Quality assurance Customer satisfaction
Business results Quality effects People satisfaction
Like ISO Management System 9000:2015
Standardization control Business results

PRO-TEC was a 2007 Baldrige recipient.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI44-1)

Key Workforce-Focused Practices for Quality

❑ Understand the key factors that drive workforce engagement,

satisfaction, and motivation.

❑ Design and manage work and jobs to promote effective

communication, cooperation, skill sharing, empowerment,
innovation, and the ability to benefit from diverse ideas and thinking
of employees .

❑ Make appropriate investments in development and learning, both for

the workforce and the organization’s leaders.

❑ Create an environment that ensures and improves workplace health,

safety, and security, and supports the workforce via policies,
services, and benefits.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Key Workforce-Focused Practices for Quality ( Table 4.1)

❑ Develop a performance management system based on

compensation, recognition, reward, and incentives that supports
high performance work and workforce engagement.

❑ Assess workforce engagement and satisfaction and use results for

improvement.

❑ Assess workforce capability and capacity needs and use the results
to capitalize on core competencies, address strategic challenges,
recruit and retain skilled and competent people, and accomplish the
work of the organization.

❑ Manage career progression for the entire workforce and succession

planning for management and leadership positions.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

THE EVOLUTION OF WORK ENGAGEMENT

❑ Motivated by pride in their work as well as the need for

survival.
❑ A series of boring and mindless tasks.
❑ Systems perspective and a focus on customer.

Human resource management (HRM)

Workforce management activities include:

• Determining the organization’s workforce needs;

• Assisting in the design of work systems;
• Recruiting, selecting, training and development, counselling….
• Acting as a liaison with unions and government organizations.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Logical relationship between customer
satisfaction and employee satisfaction

Research has shown that as workforce satisfaction increased, so did

customer satisfaction and loyalty to the organization

If people were satisfied with their working conditions and jobs, they
stayed with the company, became familiar with customers and their
needs

Customers of these firms became more loyal, thus providing more

repeat business, were willing to complain about service problems so
that employees could fix them

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Workforce engagement

Workforce engagement refers to the extent of workforce

commitment, both emotional and intellectual, to accomplishing the
work, mission, and vision of the organization.

Organizations with high levels of workforce engagement are

often characterized by high-performing work environments
in which people are motivated to do their utmost for the
benefit of their customers and for the success of the
organization.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Employee engagement offers many advantages over
traditional management practices as it:

❑ Replaces the adversarial mentality with trust and cooperation

❑ Develops the skills and leadership capability of individuals, creating
a sense of mission and fostering trust
❑ Increases employee morale and commitment to the organization
❑ Fosters creativity and innovation, the source of competitive
advantage
❑ Helps people understand quality principles and instills these
principles into the corporate culture
❑ Allows employees to solve problems at the source immediately
❑ Improves quality and productivity

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Different approaches to employee
involvement
Employee Involvement (EI) refers to participative team approaches
currently being applied to problem solving and decision-making in
various organizations.

These approaches involve transforming the culture of the entire

organization to tap the creative energies of all employees.

EI allows individuals "to discover their own potential, and to put that
potential to work in more creative ways....

People develop in themselves pride in workmanship, self-respect,

self-reliance, and a heightened sense of responsibility."

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Empowerment, How does it benefit both the
organization and employees?
Empowerment simply means giving people authority and power to
make decisions, gain greater control over their work, and thus more
easily satisfy customers. Successful empowerment of employees
requires that:

❑ Employees are provided education, resources and encouragement.

❑ Policies and procedures are examined for needless restrictions on

the ability of employees to serve customers.

❑ An atmosphere of trust is fostered rather than resentment and

punishment for failure.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

❑ Information be shared freely rather than closely guarded as a
source of control and power.

❑ Workers feel their efforts are desired and needed for the success of
the organization.

❑ Managers are given the support and training to adopt a "hands off"
leadership style.

❑ Employees are trained in the amount of latitude they are allowed to

take.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK CULTURE

High performance work refers to work approaches used

systematically pursue ever-higher levels of overall
organizational and human performance
Characterized by:
Flexibility, innovation, knowledge and skill sharing, alignment with
organizational directions, customer focus, and rapid response to
changing business needs and marketplace

“Conditions of Collaboration” for culture of high performance by

Kendall & Bodison

Respect, aligned values, shared purpose, communication, and

trust

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

The major types of teams found in
organization today
The most common types of teams are:

❑ Management teams: Teams consisting mainly of managers from

various functions, such as sales and production that coordinate work
among teams

❑ Natural work teams: Teams organized to perform entire jobs,

rather than specialized, assembly line-type work

❑ Self-managed teams (SMTs): Specially empowered work teams

defined as “a highly trained group of employees, also known as
self-directed work teams.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

❑ Virtual teams: A relatively new format in which team members
communicate by computer, take turns as leaders, and jump in and
out as necessary.

❑ Quality circles: Teams of workers and supervisors that meet

regularly to address work-related problems involving quality and
productivity.

❑ Problem-solving teams: Teams whose members gather to solve a

specific problem and then disband

❑ Project teams: Teams with a specific mission to develop

something new or to accomplish a complex task.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Issues must organizations consider with respect to
health, safety, and employee well-being in the work
environment

The organization must consider a number of issues relating to employee well

being in today’s work environment. These include:

❑ health and safety factors,

❑ accommodations for workers with disabilities,

❑ protection of employees from sexual harassment,

❑ quality of worklife factors.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

 The latter category now includes such factors as:

❑ Personal and career counseling,

❑ Career development and employability services,

❑ Recreational or cultural activities,

❑ Daycare, special leave for family responsibilities or for

❑ Community services, flexible work hours,

❑ Outplacement services, and extended health care for retirees.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Types of compensation practices that support a
performance excellence philosophy
“What’s in it for me?”

Compensation and recognition refer to all aspects of pay and

reward, including promotions, bonuses, and recognition, either
monetary and non monetary to individual and group.

Extrinsic and intrinsic rewards are the key to sustain individual

efforts.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Money is a motivator when people are at the bottom of
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Pay for performance can diminish intrinsic motivation. It causes most
employees to believe they are being treated unfairly, and forces
managers to deliver negative messages. Eventually, it creates win/lose
situations.

Deming encourages internal cooperation rather than

competition.

Most companies still use traditional financial measures, such as

revenue growth, profitability, and cost management, as a basis for
compensation.

More progressive organizations use quality measures such as customer

satisfaction, defect prevention, and cycle time reduction to make
compensation decisions.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

➢ Many TQ-focused companies now base compensation on the market rate
for an individual with proven capabilities, and then make adjustments as
capabilities are increased,

➢ Along with enhanced responsibilities, seniority, and business results. Many

companies link compensation to company track records, unit performance,
team success, or individual achievement.

➢ Team-based pay and gainsharing, an approach in which all employees share

savings equally, are gaining in popularity and importance.

➢ Compensation for individuals is sometimes tied to the acquisition of new

skills, often within the context of a continuous improvement program in
which all employees are given opportunities to broaden their work-related
competencies.

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Discussion Questions

1) Were the hostess’s actions consistent with a customer-focused

quality philosophy? What might she have done differently?

2) How would you have reacted to the letter that Mark received?
Could the Total Quality Lead have responded differently?

3) What does the fact that the hotel manager did not personally
respond to the customer tell you?

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI7X01)

Quality Planning and Implementation IV (QPI44-1)