MGMT 4240 CH. 22

Implementation approaches to be avoided

1. Don't train all employees at once(people forget, right way = train small groups just in time as they need it) 2. Don't rush into total quality by putting too many people in teams(teams were rapidly formed at first as a numbers game with no real significance. Teams should be formed deliberately as needed to take on specific issues or problems as directed by steering committee) 3. Total quality implementation must not be delegated(this implies lack of top mgmt commitment, success requires complete commitment and active personal, day-in, day-out involvement by top mgmt and staff) 4. Don't start an implementation before you are prepared(become educated on total quality before attempting to implement)

Rationale for change

1. We are bound to a short term focus(Keynesian economics, always worried about short-term payoff) 2. The traditional approach tends to be arrogant rather than customer focused(know more than customers/don't care about customers 3. We seriously underestimate the potential contribution of our employees, particularly those in hands-on functions(person who knows most, is the person doing the job, typical managers dont believe this, silencing employees and creativity, wasting brainpower 4. Traditional approach equates better quality to higher cost(quality is free and brings unforeseen benefits, pick the better supplier, cost of producing quality should be the same in all countries 5. The traditional approach is short on leadership and long on "bossmanship"(managers see jobs as telling subordinates what to do, Ford's mass production techniques led to the elimination of skills-SPECIALIZATION-don't improvise, dont make waves, just follow orders = not a good approach) Once a total quality effort gets off to a good start and successes begin to add up, a critical mass develops that causes the whole effort to gain momentum and enthusiasm, making it difficult to slow down

Goals and objectives

Broad strategic goals and objectives established by steering committee must harmonize the vision statement. Meant for total organization, not individual departments. These are the objectives that must be achieved to achieve the vision. Supporting specific tactical objectives will be developed for departments, teams and even individuals. Vision points the company in the desired direction and enlightens employees with the principles they must use in pursuit of the vision. The broad goals and objectives represent the strategic targets along the way to achieving the vision. A lower tier of specific tactical objectives describes what must be done as the company goes about achieving broad objectives and the vision. Objectives should be stated relative to total quality implementation. Don't try and include every possibility and contingency, not all goals may be measurable, but each should be defined such that you know when a goal has been achieved.

Role of top management: leadership

Every organization must have leader which is described as people that command or guide. a group or activity , if a person is in charge of any group, that person must lead. This is somehow not obvious to most, in traditional society our stigma is that the farther up the organizational structure you go, the less leadership is demanded. Any person in charge of any group is a leader, that person may not be an effective leader. It helps to be attractive and have charisma but these are not necessary or a guarantee of leadership ability. 1. Leaders pull rather than push(out in front leading the effort, visibly involved in the effort they are leading, if your not personally involved you cant be leading, dont abdicate) 2. Leaders know where they want to go(set vision and chart course to achieve vision, make choices and stick with it, provide constancy of purpose and direction, can't lead if you dont know where your going) 3. Leaders must be courageous and trustworthy(must encounter obstacles, short term objectives sacrificed if they are obstacles, must have trust. If you don't have faithful followers, you cant be a leader) 4. A leader's most important role after forming the vision and setting the course is helping people do their jobs with pride(training and nurturing, physical and intellectual tools, help people be all they can be, a group that is not trained and equipped for a task cannot be led to accomplish it)

IS0 9000 as a starting point

If an organization has not yet committed to total quality but is in a business that could benefit from ISO registration, going through preparation steps will automatically provide a start into total quality. ISO is a subset of total quality, they are not equal, but ISO is close. It can require a lot of work, but the work that is needed is also required for total quality anyway

What to do in absence of top commitment

If top mgmt is hostile to total quality, you should not push the subject much farther. If top manager is simply ambivalent, you might be able to use a mini implementation within your department but you must be able to influence your department. Magnitude of accomplishment of a departmental total quality implementation can vary greatly due to some being stand alone facilities. All processes within a department are good candidates for total quality effort and after you experience successes, you can push for expansion into cross functional processes of other departments. Departmental total quality is contradictory though, but if implementation is well done, gains will be significant enough to attract attention of other departments and top mgmt. Each of the 20 steps can be applied in a departmental sense as well. You may not require a steering committee if its a small department. Identifying strengths and weaknesses are critical at departmental level. Within departments there may be tighter financial restrictions with lack of top mgmt support, and before making infrastructure changes you might have to get top mgmt support. Another option is to get your peers to join you department by department.

Planning phase

It is here that the unique strengths and weaknesses and other characteristics of the organization are accommodated by tailoring. 12. Plan the implementation approach-then use plan-do-check-adjust(PDCA cycle)(continuous, never ends) 13. Identification of projects(chosen by steering committee, lats forever) 14. Establish Team composition(steering committee establishes the composition of teams that will execute projects, most cross functional, this goes on forever) 15. Provide team training(cover basics of total quality and tools for project, can be done by member of steering committee. At least a half day followed by facilitation)

Implementation variation among organizations

Magic succeed every time formula does not exist as organizations and cultures are all different, and the implementation plan that worked for one company will never fit exactly with another company. There is no one right way, there will be some wrong ways, and more than one right way Some other necessary steps aside from the aforementioned include: 1. Train the steering committee(14 points, 7 tools, team building) 2. Identify org. strengths and weaknesses(what are we good at, what needed strengths do we lack) 3. Identify probably advocates of total quality(which will advocate, which will resist) 4. Identify customers, both external and internal(real ultimate customers, internal customers of various departments, customer of individual employees) 5. Develop a means for determining customer satisfaction(establish current baseline against which you will measure improvement) By completing these tasks, the steering committee will be able to make rational judgements about how the journey should be started.Approach used by many orgs. is to enter total quality with the establishment of cross-functional teams applying total quality techniques to analyze and solve problems, it is important that the problems to be attacked and the team structures be controlled by the steering committee. Steering committee should direct everything in 1st 6 months. Another valid approach is starting total quality through use of 7 tools, customer satisfaction approach is another method(results seen almost at once). There is no right way to implement, but you have to approach it in a structured manner that takes advantage of your strengths, culture, and business situation and personalities involved, build on successes and learn from failures

Self assessment based on baldridge or similar criteria

Malcolm baldridge national quality award program operates under auspices of national institute of standards and technology(NIST), was established in 1987 by legislation and is intended to:-Promote awareness of importance of quality improvement to national economy -Recognize organizations that have made substantial improvements in products, services, and overall competitive performance -Foster sharing of best practices information among U.S. organizations. Competitors for the award are evaluated according to 7 categories weighted in value with a max score of 1000. Each of the 7 categories is broken down into two or more sub categories so that the evaluation covers the 17 areas of the organization's operations considered most meaningful to an evaluation of world class ranking, and each sub category is further broken down two or more levels to enable evaluation of actual process used. The real value of the award is not winning but the preparation, and companies can self rate against the standards. More companies are going through preparation with no intent on competing. Baldridge will provide companies a scorecard for comparison against best in the world and it will identify the areas most needed to be improved. 7 Criteria: 1. Leadership(120 pts) 2. Strategic planning(85 pts) 3. Customer focus(85 pts) 4. Measurement, analysis, and knowledge mgmt(90 pts) 5. Workforce focus(85 pts) 6. Operations focus(85 pts) 7. results(450 pts)

Role of middle management

Middle manager not in a position to initiate the kind of cultural change required by total quality, but they must deal with the facilities, equipment, and processes put in place by higher mgmt. They must operate within budget constraints for training self and subordinates, they are stuck with the infrastructure established by higher mgmt. Middle managers cannot commit company resources, establish the corporate vision, or set up recognition and publicity programs or arbitrate interdepartmental friction another reason why total quality cant exist w/o top mgmt. These are the people who will carry the brunt of the work as the path unfolds. Middle managers levels present the greatest obstacles to success in total quality because of: -They have been there a long time and recognize they will progress no further, see quality's changes as threats -They feel that they know more about subordinate's jobs than subordinates do -May believe the way to be successful is to do what you are told and not make waves, play the company game -They study less and may not know what total quality is about Middle managers must be facilitators, enabling their people to do their jobs better with increased satisfaction, must help/teach/praise/listen to people. They will often function as project team leaders seeking to define and characterize processes, they will find themselves on the firing line, this is where the action is. How successful middle managers adapt will have greatest impact on company's success.

Infrastructure that supports deployment and continual improvement

Most of what was discussed earlier(vision, objectives, awards and recognition, and communication) can be apart of the supporting infrastructure. 3 other infrastructure features can offer support for tq implementation or get in your way including: 1. Procedures: if there's a better way, change procedures 2. Organization: typical western hierarchy doesnt fit with total quality and communication is most notable of these problems. Must eliminate walls that have been built by departments. Organizational reengineering(cross-functional talent, new org. structures), all members must see prospects as tied to the project team not home department 3. Union Considerations: unions are out of step with today's business environment. Unions embrace division of labor which is incompatible with total quality, work is done in teams and people are shifted from function to function expected to pick up peak demands or fill in for absent. Over the years unions have become supportive of total quality. Presence of a union is no excuse for living with the status quo. Union must be part of the team and some place the top union official on total quality steering committee.

Preparation phase

Necessary for any organization. With the skills honed and critical information developed in the preparation phase, we can enter the planning phase: 1. Commitment of top executive(cant proceed without this) 2. Formation of total quality steering committee(permanent, include union official) 3. Steering committee team building(away from work environment) 4. Steering committee total quality training 5. Creation of the vision statement and guiding principles(vision statement is 1st real total quality work) 6. Establishment of broad strategic objectives(tactical objectives go into specifics) 7. Communication and publicity(know why total quality is being employed, on going forever) 8. Identification of organizational strengths and weaknesses 9. Identification of advocates and resisters 10. Baseline employee satisfaction/attitudes(objective judgement) 11. Baseline customer satisfaction

Requirements for implementation

Need for total quality can come from a variety of situations like competition taking market share, product quality lacking, strife within firm, the requirements for implementation include: 1. Commitment by top management = whatever title the top person has must commit not only resources, but also his or her own time(a third, to half). less than 1/4 is not sufficient. Delegated implementation will fail, failure of this implies that total quality is not important. A profound change is required in corporate culture, change is difficult. Change to total quality is a learning experience, if boss isnt involved they wont know enough about what is happening. 2. Commitment of resources: its not expensive, but everything has a cost, and in this case it will be training and consultant expenses. the difficulty is that its not easy to project a payback, its not easily measurable. The test for commitment of money should be one of reasonableness 3. Organization wide-steering committee: should be chaired by person filling top position in org.'s structure and members should be that person's direct subordinates. Function of this group = establish how total quality is to be implemented and to see that it happens. Cross functional teams will be necessary. It will set vision/goals for organization, establish teams to pursue the goals, monitor the team's progress and reward them for achievements. CHANNEL ENERGY. Another function of steering committee is symbolic, if they see them acting differently, they will believe in change. Person with biggest challenge is the one who has to forge this crowd into a cohesive 4. Planning and publicizing: get down into the details, steering committee must develop the vision statement and guiding principles, set the goals and objectives, put TQ implementation plan in place and develop an award and recognition program and other publicity efforts

Awards and Recognition program

Should be in hand before implementation starts. Typical program found in U.S. is out of step with total quality concepts as they are oriented towards individuals. Focus of reward systems should be on teams. The challenge is that as individuals we do not want to be penalized for the team's performance, but this is a small problem because teams themselves tend to weed out poor performers better than mgmt could. Spot awards are easily set up to recognize team accomplishments. Employees must see award process as being fair and equitable and in tune with the organization's stated intentions.

Vision statement and guiding principles

Vision statement is a long-range strategic view of where company would like to be in 5-10 years, total quality needs a long range vision because total quality is achieved only over a relatively long period, although there will be visible improvements from the outset. Not everything will be visible overnight so vision must be of a distant target to provide consistent course into the future. Without this the company will be taking short-term detours destroying the effort, CONSISTENCY is the watchword. Vision statement shouldn't be lengthy, but should represent the best collective thoughts of free/open discussion by steering committee, should include a recognition that only the customers make the final judgement of success or failure. MISSION statement tells what an org. does, where a VISION statement reveals what org. hopes to become. GUIDING PRINCIPLES are the second element of the vision and usually accompany the vision statement in a single document, they establish the rules of conduct for the organization(honesty, ethics, respect, fairness, etc..). Lofty is not bad, following properties: 1. easily understood 2. Briefly stated but clear and comprehensive 3. challenging yet attainable, lofty yet tangible 4. Capable of stirring excitement and unity of purpose 5. Sets tone for how org. conducts business 6. Not concerned with numbers

Publicity approach

approach for publicizing total quality activities and results is important, all employees need to know what is going on all the time. Failing to provide sufficient information to employees with which to make life's decisions is an unconscionable lapse in caring about people. Only when employees are fully informed can they understand many management decisions and consequently support mgmt when they otherwise might be hostile. No sugarcoating, tell it straight, let employees know ahead of time what is planned and how they will be affected, let them know when results come in good or bad. Underground communications will always fill a communication void.

Execution phase

carries out planning from the planning phase, there is a continuous loop between planning and execution even after full implementation 16. Team activation and Direction(Use PDCA cycle)(steering committee gives each team its direction and activates it) 17. Team feedback loop to the steering committee(project team closes loop. Never let it go longer than a month, both team and steering committee use PDCA cycle. Goes on forever) 18. Customer satisfaction feedback loop(special project teams employed to obtain this from external and internal customers, the duration is forever) 19. Employee satisfaction feedback loop(uses another special project team, annual surveys, necessary for steering committee and other managers to stay close to employees for accurate information, duration is forever) 20. Modify infrastructure as necessary(feedback from previous steps will guide decisions on changes, can be made by project teams THAT ARE NEEEDED or steering committee. Duration is forever)

Total quality implementation plan

driven by the vision, goals and objectives, it spells out as precisely as possible the route the implementation will take. No two total quality implementations will be the same. Every company is best equipped to chart their own course. Don't fret mistakes, but do learn from them. Implementation plans must provide training through seminars, consultants, or self teaching. People who are to be involved must be trained. Do not use an across the board training approach because it is very expensive, not everyone needs training at the same time, and most of the trained will have forgotten what they learned before getting a chance to apply it. Use a JIT approach to training, train only when its needed. Use CASCADE training

Implementation approach that works

must always be mindful that we will not be able to duplicate another's success by following exactly the same path, no two total quality implementations will be the same, but every implementation will require certain steps and the implementation model has 3 phases: 1) Preparation, 2) Planning, 3) Execution. The schedule cannot have a well defined time scale, only you can determine how long certain steps will take. Time scale must be undefined, but when applied to your own implementation, you should apply a more precise scale to target milestone events, be prepared to allow some flexibility. Step 12-20 is a closed loop system that will continue as long as total quality process is in use, and the feedback to the steering committee provides the information it needs to manage the process. Steering committee in turn issues new instructions, establishes new teams, and so on, to keep efforts going in the direction that will achieve the objectives and remain in harmony with the vision. Consultants can be used, but they arent necessary, "muddle through" wont work