Total Quality Module Prelim
Total Quality Module Prelim
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College Instructor
1. Perfection
2. Consistency
3. Eliminating waste
4. Speed of delivery
5. Compliance with policies and procedures
6. Providing a good, usable product
7. Doing it right the first time
8. Delighting or pleasing customers
9. Total customer service and satisfaction
Thus, it is important to understand the various perspectives from which quality is viewed
to fully appreciate the role it plays in the many parts of a business organization.
Judgmental Perspective
One common notion of quality, often used by consumers, it that it is synonymous or
excellence. In 1931 Walter Shewhart first denied quality as the goodness of a product.
This view is referred to as the transcendent (transcend, “to rise above or extend notably
beyond ordinary limits”) definition of quality. In this sense, quality is “both absolute
and universally recognizable, a mark of uncompromising standards and high
achievement. As such, it cannot be defined precisely- you just know it when you see it.
It is often loosely related to a comparison of features and characteristics of products and
promulgated by marketing efforts aimed to developing quality as an image variable in
the minds of consumers. Common example of products attributed with this image are
Ritz-Carlton hotels and Lexus automobiles.
Product-Based Perspective
Another definition of quality is that it is a function of a specific, measurable variable and
that difference in quality reflect differences in quantity of some product attribute, such as
in the number of stitches per inch on a shirt or in the number of cylinders in an engine.
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This assessment implies that higher levels or amounts of product characteristics are
equivalent to higher quality. As a result, quality is often mistakenly assumed to be
related to price: the higher the price, the higher the quality.
User-Based Perspective
A third definition of quality is based on the presumption that quality is determined by
what a customer wants. Individuals have different wants and needs and, hence, different
quality standards, which leads to a user-based definitions. Quality is defined as fitness
for intended use, or how well the product performs its intended function. Both Cadililac
sedan and a Jeep Cherokee are fit for use, for example, but they serve different needs
and different groups o customers. If you want a highway-touring vehicle with luxury
amenities, then a Cadililac may better satisfy your needs. If you want a vehicle for
camping, fishing, or skiing trips, a Jeep might be viewed as having better quality.
Value-Based Perspective
A fourth approach to defining quality is based on value-that is, the relationship of
usefulness or satisfaction to price. From this perspective, a quality product is one that is
as useful as competing product and is sold at a lower price, or one that offers greater
usefulness or satisfaction at a comparable a comparable price.
Manufacturing-Based Perspective
A fifth view of quality is manufacturing based and defines quality as the desirable
outcome of engineering and manufacturing practice, or conformance to specification.
Specifications are targets and tolerances determined by designers of products and
services. Targets are the ideal values for which production is to strive; tolerances are
specified because designers recognize that it is impossible to meet targets all of the tie in
manufacture.
Customer-Driven Quality
The American Nations Standards Institute (ANSI) and ASO standardized official
definition of quality terminology in 1978. These groups defined quality as “the totality
of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy
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given needs.” This definition draws heavily on the product-and-user-based approaches
and is driven by the need to contribute value to customers and thus to influence
satisfaction and preference.
Quality is meeting or exceeding customer expectations.
To understand this definition, one must firs understand the meanings of “customer.”
Most people think of a customer as the ultimate purchaser of a product or service, for
instance, the person who has an automobile for personal use or the guest who registers at
a hotel is considered an ultimate purchaser. These customers are more precisely referred
to as consumers. Clearly, meeting the expectations of consumers is the ultimate goal of
any business. Before a product reaches consumers, however, it may flow through a
chain of many firms or departments, each of which adds some value to the product. For
example, a automobile engine plant may purchase steel from a steel company, produce
engines, and then transport the engines to an assembly plant. The steel company is a
supplier to the engine plant; the engine plant is a supplier to the assembly plant the
engine plant is thus a customer of the steel company and the assembly plant is a
customer of the engine plant. These customers are called external customers.
Every employee in a company also has internal customers who receive goods or
services from suppliers within the company. An assembly department, for example, is
an internal customers of the machining department, and managers are internal customers
of the secretarial pool. Most business consist of many such “chains of customers.”
Thus, the job of an employee is not simply to please his or her supervisor; it is to satisfy
the needs of particular internal and external.
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manufacturing, human resource management, supplier relations and financial
management, to name just a few.
Procter & Gamble uses a concise definition: Total quality is the unyielding and
continually improving effort by everyone in an organization to understand, meet, and
exceed the expectations of customers.
Actually, the concept of TQ has been around for some time. A.V. Feigenbaum
recognized the importance of a comprehensive approach quality in the 1950s and
coined the term total quality control.. feigenbaum observed that the quality of
products and services is directly influenced by what the terms the Ms: markets,
money, management, man and women, motivation, materials, machines and
mechanization, modern information method’s and mounting product
requirements. Although he developed his ideas from and engineering perspective,
his concepts apply more broadly to general management.
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4. The two types of quality characteristics as viewed by customers are those that
satisfy and those that motivate. Only the latter are strongly related to repeat
sales and a “quality” image.
5. The first customer for a part or piece of information is usually the next
department in the production process.
Customer and Stakeholder Focus. The customer is the principal judge of quality.
Perception of value and satisfaction are influenced by many factors throughout the
customer’s overall purchase, ownership, and service experience. To accomplish this
task, a company’s efforts need to extend well beyond merely meeting specifications,
reducing defects and errors, or resolving complaints. They much include both designing
new products that truly delight the customer and responding rapidly to changing
consumer and market demands. A company close to its customer knows what the
customer wants, how the customer uses its products and how to anticipate needs that the
customer may not even be able to express. It also continually develops new ways of
enhancing customer relationship.
Participation and Teamwork Joseph Juran credited Japanese managers’ full use of the
knowledge and creativity of the entire workforce as one of the reasons for Japan’s raped
quality achievements. When managers give employees the tools to make good decisions
and the freedom and encouragement to make contribution; they virtually guarantee that
better quality products and production processes will result. Employees who are
allowed to participate-both individually and in teams-in decisions that affect their jobs
and the customer can make substation contributions to quality.
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operations involved in transforming inputs (physical facilities, materials, capital,
equipment, people, and energy) into outputs (products and services). Common types of
production processes include machining, mixing, assembling, filling orders, or
approving loans. However, nearly every major activity within an organization. Involves
a process that crosses traditional organization boundaries.
Philip Crosby popularized this view point in his book Quality Is Free. Crosby States:
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Improved quality improved quality
Of design of conformance
Higher perceived
Value higher lower manufacturing
Price and service cost
Increased market
Share increased
revenues
higher profitability
Today, companies are asking employees to take more responsibility for acting as the
point of contact between the organization and the customer, to be team players, and to
provide more effective and efficient customer service. Rath & Strong, a Lexigton,
Massachusetts-based management consulting firm, polled almost 200 executives from
Fortune 500 companies about activates that foster superior performance results for an
organization. They survey revealed that personal initiative when combined with a
customer orientation, resulted in a positive impact on business success and sales growth
rate. However, although 79 percent of all respondent’s indicated that employees are
increasingly expected to take initiative to bring about change in the company, 40 percent
of the respondents relied that most people in their company do not believe that they can
make a personal contribution to the company’s success. Alan Fronhman, a senior
associate with Rath & Strong, stated, “These results are significant because they suggest
that although people re being expected to take personal initiative, most organization
have not figured out how to translate those expectations into positive behavior.”
Such behaviors reflect the personal values and attitudes of individual. Employees
who embrace quality as a personal value often to beyond what they’re asked or normally
expected to do to reach a difficult goal or provide extraordinary service to a customer. A
good example involved a young girl who laid her dental retainer on a picnic table at
Disney World while eating lunch. She forgot about it until later in the day. The family
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returned to the spot, found the table cleaned up and did not know what to do next. They
spotted a custodian, told him the problem, and the custodian sought permission from his
supervisor to have the garbage bags searched by the night crew that evening. Two
weeks later, the family received a letter from the supervisor explaining that, despite their
best efforts, they had been unable to locate the retainer.
The concept of “personal quality” has been promoted by Harry V. Roberts,
professor emeritus at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, and
Bernard F. Seresketer, vice president of the Central Region of AT&/t Personal quality
may be thought of a personal empowerment, it is implemented by systematically
keeping personal checklist for quality improvement. Roberts and Sergesketter
developed the idea of a personal quality checklist to keep track of personal shortcoming,
or defect, in personal work processes. The author defended the use of a checklist to keep
track of defects:
The word “defects” has a negative connotation for some people who would like to
keep track of the times we do things right rather than times we do things wrong.
Fortunately, most of us do things right much more than we do things wrong, so it is
easier in practice to count the defects. Moreover, we can get positive satisfaction from
avoiding defects-witness accident prevention programs that count days without
accidents.
A personal quality checklist can be developed by listing eight or ten items that reflect
personal “defects” in separate lines in a column of a spreadsheet. Some examples might
be: 1) not responding phone calls or emails within 24hrs. 2) Failing to exercise at least
three times during a week. Adjacent columns for dates and checkmarks that demote
defects when items were not accomplished can be added to the spreadsheet. Note that
each item on the checklist should have a desired result, a way to measure each type of
defect, and a time frame. Both word and personal defect categories may be listed on the
sheet.
Personal quality is an essential ingredient to make quality happen in the
workplace, yet most companies have neglected it for a long time. Perhaps management,
in particular, operates under the idea that promoting quality is something that companies
do to employees, rather than something they do with employees.
QUALITY IN PRACTICE
THE EVOLUTION OF QUALITY AT XEROX: FROM LEADERSHIP
THROUGH QUALITY TO LEAN SIX SIGMA ( reflect on these case and
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comprehend their technique as well as strategy on how these companies come up from
losses.)
THE Xerox 914, the first plain-paper copier, was introduced in 1959. Regarded by many
people as the most successful business product ever introduced, it created a new
industry. During the 1960s Xerox grew rapidly, selling all it could produce, and reached
$1 billion in revenue in record-setting time. By the mid-1970s its return on assets was in
the 20 percent range. Its competitive advantages resulted from strong patents, a growing
market, and little completion. In such an environment management was not pressed to
focus on customers.
In 1983 company president David T. Keams became convinced that Xerox needed a
long range, comprehensive quality strategy as well as a change in its traditional
management culture. Kearns was aware of Japanese subsidiary Fuji Xerox’s success in
implementing quality management practices and was approached by several Xerox
employees about instituting total quality management. He commissioned a team to
outline a quality strategy for Xerox. The team’s report stated that instituting it would
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require changes in behaviors and attitudes throughout the company and operations
changes in the company’s business practices. Kearns determined that Xerox would
initiate a total quality management approach, that they would take the time to “design it
right the first time,” and that the effort would involve all employees. Kearns and the
company’s top 25 managers wrote the Xerox Quality Policy, which states the following:
Xerox is a quality company. Quality is the basic business principle for xerox.
Quality means providing our internal and internal customers with innovative products
and services that fully satisfy their requirements. Quality improvement is the job of
every Xerox employee.
This policy led to a process called Leadership through Quality, which had three
objectives:
1. To instill quality as the basic business principle Xerox and to ensure that quality
improvement becomes the job of every Xerox person.
2. To ensure that Xerox people, individual and collectively, provide out external and
internal customers with innovative products and services that fully satisfy their
existing and latent requirements.
3. To establish, as a way of life, management and work processes that enable all
Xerox people to continuously pursue quality improvement in meeting customer
requirements.
Leadership Through Quality radically change the way Xerox did business. All
activities, such as product planning, distribution, and establishing unit objectives,
began with a focus on customer requirements. Benchmarking-identifying and
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studying the companies and organizations that best perform critical business
functions and then incorporating those organizations’ ideas into the firm’s
operations-became an important component of Xerox’s quality. Xerox
bechmaked more than 200 processes with those of noncompetitive companies.
For instance, ideas for improving production scheduling came from Cummins
Engine Company, ideas for improving the distribution system cam form L.L>
Bean, and ideas for improving billing processes came from American Express.
Measuring customer satisfaction and training were important components
of the program. Every month, 40,000 surveys were mailed to customers, seeking
feedback on equipment performance, sales, service, and administrative support.
Any reported dissatisfaction was dealt with immediately and was usually removed
in a matter of days. When the program was instituted, every Xerox employee
worldwide, and at all levels of the company, received the same training in quality
principles. This training began with top management and filtered down through
each level of the. Five years, 4 million labor-hours, and more than $125 million
later, all employees had received quality-related training. In 1988 about 79
percent of Xerox employees were involved in quality improvement teams.
Several other steps were taken. Xerox worked with suppliers to impose
their processes, implement statistical methods and a total quality processes,
implement statistical methods and total quality process, and support a just-in-time
inventory concept. Suppliers that joined in these efforts were involved in the
earliest phases of new product designs and rewarded with long term contracts.
Employee involvement and participation was also an important effort.
Xerox had always had good relationships with its unions. In 1980 the company
signed a contract with its principal union, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile.
Workers, encouraging union members’ participation in quality improvement
processes. It was the first program in the company that linked managers with
employees in a mutual problem-solving approach and served as a model for other
corporations. A subsequent contract included the provision that “every employee
shall support the concept of continuous quality improvement while reducing
quality costs through teamwork.”
Most important, management become the role model for the new way of
doing business. Managers were required to practice quality in their daily activities
ant to promote Leadership Through Quality among their peers and subordinates.
Reward and recognition systems were modified to focus on teamwork and quality
results. Managers became coaches, involving their employees in the act of
running the business on a routine basis.
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From the initiation of Leadership Through Quality until the point at which
Xerox’s Business Products and Systems organization received the Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award in 1989, some of the most obvious impacts of
the Leadership Through Quality program included the following:
1. Reject rates on the assembly line fell from 10.000 parts per million to
300 parts per million.
2. Of supplied parts, 95 percent no longer needed inspection, in 1989, 30
U.S. suppliers went the entire year defect-free.
3. The number of suppliers was cut from 5,000 to fewer than 500.
4. The cost of purchased parts was reduced by 45 percent.
5. Despite inflation, manufacturing costs dropped 20 percent.
6. Product development time decreased by 60 percent.
7. Overall product quality improved 93 percent.
Xerox taught that customer that customer satisfaction plus employee
motivation and satisfaction resulted in increased market share and
improved return on assets. In 1989 president David Kearns observed
that quality is “a race without a finish line.”
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Customer-focused employees, accountable for business results, are fundamental to
our success.
Our work environment enables participation, speed, and teamwork based on trust
learning, and recognition.
Everyone at Xerox has business objective aligned to the Xerox direction. A
disciplined process is used to assess process toward delivery of results.
Customer-focused work processes, supported by disciplined use of quality tools.
Enable rapid changes and yield predictable business results.
Everyone takes responsibility to communicate and act on benchmarks and
knowledge that enable rapid change in the best interests of customers and
shareholders.
QUALITY IN PRACTICE
BRINGING TOTAL QUALITY PRINIPLES TO LIFE AT KARLEE
KARLEE is a contract manufacturer of precision sheet metal and machined components
for telecommunication, semiconductor, and medical equipment industries located in
Garlan, Teas, KARLEE provide a vertically integrated range of services that support
customers from initial component design to finished, assembled product. Their services
include the following:
Advanced design engineering support
Prototype production
Manufacture and assembly of precision machined an sheet metal-fabricated
products
Product finishing (painting, silk screening, plating)
Value-added assembly integration (cabling, power supply and backplane
installation, and electrical testing)
KARLEE exemplifies the principles of total quality that we introduced in this chapter
in number of ways, which are discussed next.
Customer and Stakeholder Focus
KARLE made a strategic decision to carefully select customers that support their
values, which include a systematic approach to business and performance
management, a desire for long-term partnerships, and global leadership. Senior
executive leaders (SELs) work with each customer to establish current requirement
and future needs, and each customer is assigned a two-person customer service team
that is on call 24hrs a day for day-to-day production issues. One member is an
estimator who provides quotes for the customer. The second member is a customer
service representative (CSR) who provides liaison support in communicating
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delivery, scheduling, order entry, and other requested information. The customer
service representatives for three of KARLEE uses a mobile phone system that
includes voicemail email, and radio communications to make CSRs accessible
whenever they are away from their office. In the event they are unavailable, a private
voicemail ca be left for any team member. Home phone numbers of customer service
representatives are given to customers as well.
KARLEE develops and ensures customer loyalty by providing a full range of
manufacturing, engineering, and customer support series, maintaining a committed
“can do” attitude and being able to rapidly meet changing requirements. Their ability
to vertically integrate processes and provide engineering support form design
conception through production strengthens the bond they have with customers and
ensures continued relationships. Additional methods of building and sustaining long-
term relationships with customers include the following:
Learning customers; business challenges and using this information to seek
opportunities to better support their performance
Providing proactive cost-management solutions, remaining responsive and
flexible to schedule changes, and maintaining capacity and resources to adjust
to customer growth requirements.
Maintaining open communications at each business level
Supporting major customer initiatives, such as lean manufacturing
Sharing detailed cost information to assist customers in joint cost reductions
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KARLEE helps team members develop and use their full potential by creating an
environment of empowerment and opportunity for growth. Team members are
empowered to take ownership of, and are held accountable for, the processes within their
work area. During strategic planning, objective and targets are development for the
operational, administrative, and support teams across the company each team is
empowered to change its recommended targets and requires additional measure if they
believe it will help them achieve higher performance. Team members plan and execute
their own improvement activities to meet those targets. Teams are empowered to
schedule work, manage inventory, and design the layout of their work areas. Any team
member can stop production if the process is not performing to customer requirements
or process specification. KARLEE fosters a team culture based on genuine caring and
support among leader and team members.
KARLEE stresses the importance of mutual trust, honesty, respect, and team
member will-being. The support climate is also enhance through the following means;
The KARLEE Cares Team, which members formed to meet catastrophic needs of
their fellow workers and the community
The Cultural Advisory Committee, which recommends ways to better fulfill
company values, vision, ad mission
The “KARLEE Super Kids” and scholarship programs, which recognize and
reward the students of team members for scholastic achievement
Team Resources, which provides a Welcome Bag to all new team members an
sponsors social activities such as holiday lunches, picnics, and parties on a regular
basis.
EVALUATION:
1. Describe the three fundamental principles of total quality.
2. What did PhilipCrosby mean by “Quality is free”
3. Why is it important to personalize quality principles?
4. Explain the role of quality in improving a firm’s profitability
5. Explain the various definition of quality. Can a single definition suffice? Why or
why not?
6. What factors have contributed to the increased awareness of quality in modern
business?
7. How does quality support the achievement of competitive advantage?
Cases
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I. Skilled Care Pharmacy
Skilled Care Pharmacy, located in Mason, Ohio, is a $25 million privately held
regional provider of pharmaceutical products delivered with the long-term care,
assisted living, hospice, and group-home environments. The following products are
included within this service:
Medication and related billion services
Medical records
Information systems
Continuing education
Consulting services to include pharmacy, nursing, dietary, and social services
The key customer groups that Skilled Care provides services to include the senior
population housed within the extended and long-term care environments. Customers
within this sector depend on Skilled Care to provide their daily pharmaceutical needs
at a competitive rate. Because of the high risk factor of its business, these needs
require that the right drug be delivered to the right patient at the right time.
Moreover, depending on the environment being served, different medication-
dispensing methods may be used such as vials, multi dose packaging, or unit dose
boxes. Also, depending on the customer type, specific delivery requirements may be
implemented to better serve the end user.
Skilled Cares dedication and commitment to continuous quality improvement is
evident throughout its internal and external operations. By reflection on the
principles needed to attain quality success across all levels of customers, Skilled Care
adopted the quality policy statement.
Skilled Care’s employee population include 176 culturally diverse associated
committed to a substance-free workplace. The team includes associated with all
levels of educational training representing many of the following disciplines:
associated with all levels of educational training representing many of the following
disciplines: pharmacists, pharmacy technician, medical data entry, accountants,
billing specialists, nurses, human resources, sales/marketing, purchasing,
administrative and administrative assistance, deliver, customer service representative
assistance, deliver, customer service representative, and IT (information technology)-
certified personnel.. at times, multifaceted work teams are formed through cross-
functional approaches to complete the task(s) at and.
Skilled Care’s deliverables are generated from its sole 24,00sqaure foot location in
Mason, Ohio. The pharmacy, which is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, is
secured by a Honeywell alarm system. The company’s primary technology rests
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within its pharmacy software. Rescot. This system enables Skilled Care to process,
bill, and generate pertinent data critical to the overall operations of the company.
Other partnerships have also been established within Skilled Care’s multdosed
packaging capabilities and wholesaler purchasing interface.
Skilled Care Pharmacy uses the Internet for publishing pertinent information and
news and a Web-enable customer service application called Track-It to report
specific information about customer issues for companywide resolution. Advantages
of e-commerce include quicker customer-serve response time for all areas of service
including placing the order, pharmacist’s review, deliver, and billing or the product.
Skilled Care Pharmacy faces key strategic challenges from the rapidly evolving
financial structure of health care, a shortage of licensed, medical practice, and
employee retention at all levels. These as well as future challenges are always
balanced with the responsibility to the stakeholders.
Identify the problem- you should be able to describe the problem of issue in on or two
sentences. The problem should be specific. Problems should be in bulleted form.
You will need to explain why the problem occurred. Does problem facing the
company comes from a changing environment, new opportunities, inefficient internal
or external business processes?
Specify Alternative Courses of Action- list the courses of action the company can take
to solve its problem or meet the challenge it faces. For information system-related
problems do these alternatives require a new information system or the modification
of an existing system? Are new technologies, business processes, organizational
structure, or management behavior required? What changes to organizational
processes would be required by each alternative? What management policy would be
required to implement each alternative?
Remember, there is a difference between what an organization “should do” and
what that organization actually “can do”. Some solutions are too expensive or
operational difficult to implement, and should avoid solutions that are beyond their
organization’s resources, identify the constraints that will limit the solutions available.
Is each alternative executable given these constraints?
Recommend the best course of action
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State your choice for the best course of action and provide a detailed explanation of
why you made this selection. You may also want to provide an explanation of why
other alternatives were not selected. Your final recommendation should flow
logically from the rest of your case analysis and should clearly specify what
assumptions were used to shape your conclusion. There is often no single “right”
answer, and each option is likely to have risks as well as rewards.
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entertained with big screen TV’s. Jim walks around and constantly solicits customer
feedback. Jim visits many other restaurants to study their operations and learn new
techniques. As a result of these visits, Jim installed computers to schedule
reservations and enter orders to the kitchen.
Course Code: BA 1
Description: Operation Mgt. (TQM)
Course-Yr. & Blk: MM-1D, MM-1E, MMI-F, MM-IH,MM-1G
Course Description: This course provides learners with an understanding of quality
control and improvement systems. The course includes study of topics related to quality
management approaches, design and implementation of quality-related procedures, and
related technologies. The focus of the course on enhancing goods, services, and the
business environment.
Objective (Midterm): at the end of the prelim period, the students should be able to
understand:
Understand the background of three philosopher’s (Demings, Juran, and Crosby).
Foundations of the Deming Philosophy
Deming’s Profound Knowledge
Deming’s 14 Points
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Juran’s three major quality process
Crosby’s “Absolutes of Quality Management and the “Basic Element of
Improvement”.
ISO 9000:2000
Quality and Systems Thinking
Quality in Manufacturing
Quality in Education
Quality in small Businesses and not-for-profits
Quality in Practice Service Quality at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
Case Study
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defense effort, but he realized that teaching statistics only to engineers and factory
workers would never solve the fundamental quality problems that manufacturing needed
to address. Despite numerous efforts his attempts to convey the message of quality to
upper-level managers in the United States were ignored.
Shortly after World War II Deming was invited to Japan to help the country take a
census. The Japanese had heard about his theories and their usefulness to U.S.
companies during the war. Consequently, he soon began to teach the statistical quality
control. His thinking went beyond meres statistics, however, Deming preached the
importance of top management leadership, customer/supplier partnerships, and
continuous improvement in product development and manufacture processes. Japanese
managers embraced these ideas, and the rest, as they say, in history Deming’s influence
on Japanese industry was so great that the Union of Japanese Scientist and Engineers
established the Deming Application Prized in 1951 to recognize companies that show a
level of achievement in quality practices. Deming also received Japan’s highest honor.
The Royal Order of the Sacred Treasure, from the emperor. The former chairman of
NEC Electronic once said. “There is not a day I don’t think about what Dr. Deming
meant to us.”
Although Deming lived in Washington, D.C., he remained virtually unknown in
the United States until 1980, when NBC telecast a program entitled “if Japan can… Why
Can’t We? The documentary highlighted Deming’s contribution in Japan and his later
work the Nashua Corporation. Shortly afterward, his name was frequently on the lips of
U.S. corporate executive Companies such Ford, GM, and Procter & Gamble invited him
to work with them to improve their quality. To their surprise, Deming did not lay out “a
quality improvement program” for them his goal was to change entire perspectives in
management, and often radically. Deming worked with passion until his death in
December 1993 at the age of 93, knowing he had little time left to make a difference in
this home country. When asked how he would like to be remembered, Deming replied,
“I probably won’t even be remembered.” Then after a long pause, he added, “Well,
maybe … as someone who spent his life trying to keep America from committing
suicide.
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System The components of any system must work together if the system is to be
effective. Traditional organizations typically manage according to the functions in
vertical organization charts. However, when interaction occur among the parts of a
system (for instance, among function and department in an organization), managers
cannot manage the system well by simply managing the parts in isolation; they must
understand the processes that cross functional boundaries, align these processes toward a
common vision or goad, and optimize their interactions. Sub optimization (doing the
best for individual components) results in losses to everybody in the system. According
to Deming, it is poor management, for example, to purchase materials or service at the
lowest price or to minimize the cost such inferior quality that they will cause excessive
costs in scrap and repair during manufacture and assembly. Minimizing the cost of
manufacturing alone might result in products that do not meet designers; specifications
and customer needs. Such situations lead to a win-lose effect. Purchasing wins,
manufacturing loses; manufacturing wins, customers lose; and so on. To manage any
system, managers must understand the interrelationships among the systems;
components and among the people who work in it.
Deming stressed that system must be focused toward a purpose. Stockholders can
realize financial benefits, employees can receive opportunities for training and education
that will enhance their joy in work, customers can receive products and services that
meet their needs and create satisfaction, the community can benefit from business
leadership, and the environment can benefit from responsible management.
Systems thinking applies to man ageing people also. Pitting individual or
departments against each other for resources is self-destructive to an organization. The
individuals or departments will perform to maximize their own expected gain, not that of
the entire firm. Therefore, optimizing the system requires internal cooperation.
Similarly, using sales quotas or arbitrary cost-reduction goals will not motivate people to
improve the system and customer satisfaction; the people will perform only to meet the
quotas or goals and optimize their individual rewards. Traditional performance
appraisals do not consider interactions within the system. Many factors affect an
individual employee’s performance, including the following:
The training received
The information and resources provided
The leadership of supervisors and managers
Disruption on the job
Management policies and practices
Variation the second part of Profound Knowledge is a basic understanding of statistical
theory and variation. We see variation everywhere, from hitting golf balls for the meals
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and service in restaurant. A device called a quincunx illustrated a natural process of
variation. In a quincunx, small balls are dropped from a hole in the top and hit a series of
pins as they fall toward collection boxes. The pins cause each ball to move randomly to
the left or the right as it strikes each pin on its way down. Note that most balls end up
toward the middle of the box. Note the roughly symmetrical bell shape of the
distribution. A normal distribution is bell-shaped. Even though all balls are dropped
from the same position, the end result shows variation.
The same kind of variation exists in any production and service process, generally
due to factors inherent in the design of the system, which cannot easily be controlled.
Today, modern technology has improved our ability to produce many physical parts with
very little variation; however, the variation that stems from human behavior and
performance continues to hamper quality efforts. Deming suggested that management
first understand and then work to reduce variation through improvement in technology,
process design and training. With less variation, both the producer and consumer benefit.
The producer benefits by needing less inspection, experiencing less scrap and rework,
and havening more consistent human performance, resulting in higher productivity ad
customer satisfaction. The consumer has the advantage of knowing that all products and
services have similar quality characteristics and will perform or be delivered
consistently. The advantage can be especially critical when the consumer is another firm
using large quantities of the product in its own manufacturing or service operations.
Theory of Knowledge The third part of Profound Knowledge is the “theory of
knowledge “the branch of philosophy concerned with nature and scope and knowledge,
its presumption and basis and the general reliability of claims to knowledge. Deming’s
system was influenced greatly by Clarence Irving Lewis, author of Mind and the World,
who stated, “There is no knowledge without interpretation.” If interpretation, which
represents activity of the mind, is always subject to the check of further experience, how
is knowledge possible at all?... An argument from past to future at best is probable only,
and even this probability must rest upon principles which are themselves that affect the
future should be effective. Any rational plan, however simple, requires prediction
concerning conditions, behavior, and comparison performance, and such predictions
would be grounded in theory.
For example, it is easy to learn a “cookbooks” approach to statistics-being able to
run a computer program or a Microsoft Excel procedure. Doing so, however, runs the
risk of using the tools inappropriately. Understanding the assumptions and theory
behind statistical tools and techniques is vital to ap-plying them correctly. Countless
managers use a similar cookbook approach to managing be reading the latest self-help
book and blindly following the author’s recommendations. Many companies jump on
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the latest popular approach advocated by business consultants, only to see the approach
fail. Copying an example of success, without understanding it with theory, may lead to
disaster.
Deming emphasized that knowledge is not possible without theory, and
experience alone does not establish a theory. It one reason why Deming never gave
managers any “solution” or prescription for achieving quality. He wanted them to learn
and discover wat works and what is appropriate for their individual organizations. The
modern concept of organizational learning reflects the theory of knowledge. For
example, many project managers conduct debriefings or post mortem review upon
completion of projects.
Deming’s 14 Points
Date back serval decades to when many organizations were led by autocratic managers
who were driven by short-term profits and who had little regard for engaging the
workforce or interest in quality improvement. Deming was emphatic in his belief that
these managerial practices needed a radical overhaul and proposed the 14 Points for
achieving quality excellence. Although management practice today are vastly different
from when Deming first began to preach his philosophy, the 14 Points still convey
important insights for managers. We will briefly consider the key lessons of each.
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Point 1: create a Vision and Demonstrate Commitment. An organization must
define its values mission, and vision of the future to provide long-term direction for its
management and employees. Deming believed that businesses should not exist simply
for profit; they are social entities whose basic purpose is to serve their customers and
employees. To fulfill this purpose, they must take a long-term view, invest in
innovation, training, and research, and take responsibility for providing jobs and
improving a firm’s competitive position. This responsibility lies with top management,
who must show commitment.
Point 2: Learn the New Philosophy Historical methods of management built on early
twentieth century principles of Frederick Taylor, such as quota-driven production, work
measurement, and organized this problem a long time ago and sought to change the
prevailing attitudes that ignored the importance of quality improvement. Specifically,
companies cannot survive if products of poor conformance quality or poor fitness for use
leave their customers dissatisfied. Instead, companies must take a customer-driven
approach based on mutual cooperation between labor and management and a never-
ending cycle of improvement. To effectively focus on the customers’ needs everyone,
from the boardroom to the stockroom, must learn the principles of quality and
performance excellence.
Today, many of these principles are indeed ingrained in managers and front-line
employees through training and reinforcement of organization values. However, people
change jobs and organizations generally have a short memory—both need to continually
renew themselves to learn new approaches and relearn many older ones.
Point 3: Understand Inspection Deming know that inspection had been the principal
means for quality control; companies employed dozens or even hundreds of people who
inspected for quality on a full-time basis. Routine inspection acknowledge that defects
are present, but does not add value to the product. Rather, it is rarely accurate, and
encourages the production of defective products by letting someone else catch and fix
the problem. The rework and disposition of defective material decreases productivity
and increases cost. In service industries, rework cannot be performed; external failures
are the most damaging to business.
Points 4: Stop Making Decisions Purely on the Basis of Cost. Purchasing
departments have long driven by cost minimization and competition among suppliers
without regard for quality. Yet, by tradition, the purchasing manager’s performance has
been evaluated by cost. Deming recognized that the direct costs associated with poor
quality materials that arise during production or during warranty periods, as well as the
loss of customer goodwill, can far exceed the cost “savings” perceived by purchasing.
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Thus. Purchasing must understand its role as a supplier to production. This relationship
caused individual to rethink the meaning of an “organizations boundary”
Deming also urged businesses to establish long-term relationships with ferwer
suppliers, leading to loyalty and opportunities for mutual improvement. Management
previously justified multiple supplier for reasons such as providing protection against
strikes or natural disasters, while ignoring “hidden” cost such as increased travel to visit
suppliers, loss of volume discounts, increased setup charges resulting in higher unit
costs, and increased inventory and administrative expense. Most importantly, constantly
changing suppliers solely on the basis of price increases the variation in the material
supplied to production, because each supplier’s process is different in contrast, a reduced
supply base decreases the variation coming into the process, thus reducing scrap,
rework, and the need for adjustment to accommodate this variation. A long-term
relationship strengthens the supplier-customer and, allows the supplier to produce in
greater quantity, improves communication with the customer, and therefore enhances
opportunities or process improvement. Suppliers know that only quality goods are
acceptable if they want to maintain a longer-term relationship.
Point6: Institute Training People are an organization’s most valuable resource; they
want to do a good job, but they often do not know how. Management must take
responsibility for helping them not only does training result in improvements in quality
and productivity, but it adds to worker morale, and demonstrates to workers that the
company is dedicated to helping them and investing in their future. In addition, training
reduces carriers between workers and supervisors, giving both more incentive to
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improve further. For example, at Honda of America in Maryville, Ohio, all employees
start out on the production floor, regardless of their job classification.
Training must transcend such basic job skills, as running a machine or following
the script when talking to customers. Training should include tools for diagnosing
analyzing and solving quality problems and identifying improvement opportunities.
Today, may companies have excellent training programs for technology related to direct
production, but still fail to enrich the axillary skills of their workforce. .
POINTS 8: DRIVE OUT FEAR Driving out fear underlies many of Deming’s 14
Points. Fear is manifested in many ways fear of reprisal, fear of failure fear of the
unknown, fear of relinquishing control, and fear of change. No system can work without
the mutual respect of managers and workers. Workers are often afraid to report quality
problems because they might not meet their quotas. Their incentives pay might be
reduced, or they might be blamed for problems in the system. One of Deming’s classic
stories involved a foreman who would not stop production to repair a worn-out piece of
machinery. Stopping production would mean missing his daily quota. He said nothing,
and the machine failed, causing the line to shut down for four days. Managers are also
afraid to cooperate with other department, because the other managers might receive
higher performance ratings and bonuses because they fear takeovers or reorganizations.
Fear encourages short-term thinking.
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POINTS 9: OPTIMIZE THE EFFORTS OF TEAMS Teamwork helps to break down barriers
between department and individuals. Barriers between functional areas occur when
manager fear they might lose power. Internal competition for raises and performance
ratings contributes to building barriers. The lack of cooperation leads to poor quality
because other departments cannot understand what their internal customers wan and do
not get what they need from their internal suppliers.
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layoffs of their colleagues. Many are given the titles of “management” so that overtime
need not be paid. Even employees in the quality profession are not immune. And
inspection technician stated “The profession always seems to end up being called the
troublemaker.” A quality engineer stated. “The managers over me now give little
direction, are very resistant to change, and do little to advance their people.” A quality
supervisor said, “Someone less qualified could perform my job…for less money.” A
quality supervisor said, “Someone less qualified could perform my jo… for less money.”
How can these individuals take pride in their work? Many cannot be certain hey will
have a job next year.
Deming believed that one of biggest barriers to pride in workmanship is
performance appraisal. Performance appraisal destroys teamwork by promoting
competition for limited resources, foresters mediocrity because objective typically are
driven by numbers and what the boss wants rather than by quality, focuses on the short
term and discourages risk taking, and confounds the “people resources” with other
resources. If all individuals are working within the system. Then they should bot be
singled out of the system to be ranked. Some people have to be “below average,” which
can only result to frustration if those individuals are working within the confines of the
system. Deming sorted performance into three categories: the majority of performances
that are the system on the inferior side. Statistical methods provide the basis for these
classifications. Superior performers should be compensated specially; inferior
performers need extra training or replacement.
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deal with, particularly when many of the traditional management practices. Deming felt
must be eliminated are deeply ingrained in the organization’s culture.
ISO 9000-2000
As quality became a major focus of businesses throughout the world, various
organizations developed standards and guideline. Terms such as quality management,
quality control, quality system, and quality assurance acquired different, sometimes
conflicting meanings form country to country within a country, and even within an
industry. When the European Community moved toward the European free trade
agreement, which went into effect at the end of 1992, quality management became a key
strategic objective. To standardize quality requirements for European country, a
specialized agency for standardization, the International Organization for
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Standardization (IOS) founded in 1946 and composed of representatives from the
nations standard bodies of 91 nations, adopted a series of written quality standards in
1987. They were revised in 1994, and again (significantly 2000. The most recent
version is called the ISO 9000-2000 family of standards.
The standards were created to meet five objectives:
1. Achieve, maintain, and seek to continuously improve product quality (including
services) in relationship to requirements.
2. Improve the quality of operations to continually meet customers; and stakeholders
and implied needs.
3. Provide confident to internal management and other employees that quality
requirement are being fulfilled and that implements taking place.
4. Provide confidence to internal management and other employees that quality
requirements are being achieved in the delivered product.
5. Provide confidence that quality system requirements are fulfilled.
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Principle 7: factual Approach to Decision Making
Effective decision are based on the analysis of data and information.
Principle 8: mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships
Organization and its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually beneficial relationship
enhances the ability of both to create value.
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efforts. Many of these efforts were stimulated by the automobile industry as For, GM,
and Chrysler forced their network of suppliers to improve quality during the 1980s as
they did so quality efforts were pushed down the automotive supply chain.
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permanent disability, and the about one-fourth of these adverse events were due to
negligence. A national study found that from 1983 to 1993, deaths due to
medications errors rose more than twofold, with 7,391 deaths attributed to
medication errors in 1993 alone.
2. Underutilization of services. Millions of people do not receive necessary care
and suffer needless complications that add to health care costs and reduce
productivity for example, a study of Medicate patients with myocardial infraction
found that only 21 percent of eligible patients beta blockers, and that the mortality
rate among recipients was 43 percent less than that for nonresidents. And
estimated 18,000 people die each year from heart attacks because they did not
receive effective intervention.
3. Overuse of service. Millions of Americans receive health care services that are
unnecessary increase costs, and often endanger their health. For example, and
analysis of hysterectomies performed by seven health plan estimated that one in
six was inappropriate.
4. Variation in services. A continuing pattern of wide variation continues in health
care practice including regional variations and small-area variations. This pattern
clearly indicates that the practice of health care has not caught up with the science
of healthcare to ensure evidence based practice in the United States.
The Commission’s report included more the 50 recommendation to address these issues.
These recommendations, which include the use of measurements, stakeholder
participation, error prevention, and continuous improvement, support the underlying
philosophy of total quality that we described in Chapter 1.
In 1990, SSM Health Care, profiled at the beginning of this chapter, became one
of the healthcare organizations in the United States to implement COI throughout its
entire system. Five years later, after visiting manufacturing winners of the Baldrige
Award and learning about their practices. SSM instituted a new leadership plan,
improved strategic and financial planning processes. A new conference to share best
practice’s among its hospitals, and an improved CQI model that permits rapid
identification and correction of potential problems. In 2002, SSM became the first
health care winner of the Baldrige Award. Other example include Boston’s New
England Deaconess Hospital, where teams identify problems that add unnecessary days
to hospital stays, achieving a 10 percent overall decrease in length of hospital stay in two
years; and Nash General Hospital in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Which examined
Processed with the emergency department and was able to reduce the length of stay y
more than 50 percent.
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As another example, the Virginia Beach Ambulatory Surgery Center (VBASC)
built a new patient surgical facility using the principles of total quality. The center
engaged employees writing a policy and procedure manual. It continues to ask their
opinions on the quality of their work as individuals and the organization as a whole, to
encourage and support professional development, to empower employees to develop and
manage innovative programs, to listen to customer and act on their suggestions, to view
surgeon and their office staff as key customer demonstrate strong internal customer
focus to measure ad objectively assess everything it does and to hold monthly CQI
meetings.
QUALITY IN EDUCATION
Education represents one of the most interesting and challenging areas for improvement.
Attacks on the quality of education in the United States, from kindergarten through the
12 grade (K-12) and at colleges and universities provided rallying cry for education
reform during the las decade. One of the earliest and most widely publicized stories of
the successful use of quality in education is that of Mt. Edgecumbe High School in
Sitka, Alaska. Mt. EDgecumbe is a public boarding school with some 200 students,
often from problem homes in rural Alaska. Many are Native Americans, who are
struggling to keep their culture alive while learning to live and work in American society
David Langford, a teacher, brought the quality concepts to Mt. Edgecumbe after hearing
about them a meeting at MCDonnell-Douglas Helicopter Company. After reading many
books by quality gurus such as Deming, Juran, and Crosby, Langford took some students
in a computer club on a trip to Gibert (Arizone) high Schoo. There, they observed how
Delores Christiansen taught continuous improvement in her business classes. They
also visited companies in the Phoenix area that were using quality principles. The
students, with the coaching of Langford, began to use quality concepts to improve
school processes. For example, the students tackled the problem of too many tardy
classmates. By investigation the reasons for tardiness, the students persuaded the
administration to drop the punishment for tardy students, and were able to reduce the
average number of late occurrences per week from 35 to 5.
As an even more radical change, the school dropped the tradition grading system.
Instead, students use statistical techniques to keep track of their own progress. No
assignment is considered finished until it is perfect. Eliminating grades has had a
positive effect. One student, James Penemarl reported, “I found myself learning a lot
more. It’s not the teacher having to check my progress, it’s me having to check my
progress. See, however much I learn is up to me, and if I want to learn, I’m going to go
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out and learn.” What they call CIP, or the continuous improvement proves, has been an
obvious success (approximately 50 percent of students now go on to college, yet the
messages that it’s not a “quick fix,” and (2) there’s always room for improvement.
Current information, experiences of teachers and students, and articles on applying TQ
in secondary education can be obtained at Mt. Edgecumbe’s Web site.
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Nevertheless, many successful small businesses have shown that quality initiatives can
be successful accomplished.
QUALITY IN PRACTICE
SERVICE QUALITY AT THE RITZ-CARLTON HOTEL COMPANY
Caesar Ritz the concept of a luxury hotel in the 1890s. In 1992 the Ritz-Carlton Hotel
Company became the first hospitality organization to receive the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award; in 1999 they became the second company to win the award a
second time, a testament to their continuous journey of improvement. The hotel industry
is a very competitive business, one in which consumer place great emphases on
reliability, timely delivery, and value. The Ritz-Carlton focuses on the principal
concerns of its main customers and strives to provide them with highly personalized
caring service attention to employee performance and information technology are two
of the company’s many strengths that helped it to achieve superior quality.
The Ritz-Carlton operates from an easy-to-understand definition of service quality
that is aggressively communicated and internalized at all levels of the organization. Its
Three Steps of Service, Motto, Employee Promise, Credo, and Basics-collectively
known as the Gold Standards and instilled in all employees through extensive training
approaches. They allow employees to think and act independently with innovation for
both the benefits of the customer and the company. The company’s approaches for
selecting and training employees were discussed earlier in this chapter.
THE Ritz-Carlton uses many sources of information to understand its customers. These
include alliance with travel partners such as airlines and credit card companies; focus
groups and customer satisfaction results; complaints, claims, and feedback from the
salesforce; customer interviews; travel industry publications and studies; and even
special psychological studies to understand what customers mean, not what they say, and
how to appeal to the customer in the language they most understand.
A formal strategic planning process sets business directions to achieve the
company’s long-term vision: “To be the Premier Worldwide Provider of Luxury Travel
and Hospitality Provider of Luxury Travel and Hospitality Products and Services” Upper
managers at the corporate and hotel feel conduct monthly performance reviews of the
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strategic plan, focusing on key indicators that reflect employee pride and joy, customer
loyally, financial performance, and process performance. Quarterly reviews focus on
opportunities for improvement and innovation. A variety of comparative data on
competitors and other world-class organizations is used to evaluate and improve their
practices. For example, data revealed that front des turnover was higher than usual the
company found out the certain airlines were paying higher wages and attracting their
employees. The Ritz-Carlton reevaluated its compensation policy to match the airlines
and actually reduced its total costs by eliminating a supervisor who was required to
constantly monitor new employees
The Ritz-Carlton gathers and uses customer-satisfaction and quality-related data
on a daily basis. Information systems involve every employee and provide critical,
responsive data on guest preferences, quantity of error-free products and services, and
opportunities for quality improvement. The rack a set of serve quality indicator (SQI)
which represent the 12 most serious defects that can occur during regular operations.
Each day an index is computed and disseminated to the workforce and reviewed by hotel
managers.
Each production and support process is assigned an “executive owner: at the
corporate office and a “working owner” at the hotel level, who are responsible for the
development and improvement of these processes. They have the authority to define the
measurements and determine the resources needed to manage these processes. The
G”GreenBook,” a handbook for employees, describes a nine-step quality improvement
process to guide the design, control, and improvement of all processes, and is
emphasized during new employee training and continual development. The Ritz-Carlton
even has a process to overcome cultural resistance to change;: stress the importance of
the change, express confidence that the change can be made, provide a reason why
people should make the change as a group, and allow time to find an accommodation to
the change.
THREE STEPS OF SERVICE
1
A warm and sincere greeting.
User the guest name, if and
When possible
2
Anticipation and compliance with guest needs.
3
Fond farewell. Give them
A warm good-bye, if and
When possible.
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“We Are
Ladies and
Gentlemen
Serving
Ladies and
Gentlemen”
THE RITZ-CARLTON
CREDO
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and
comfort of our guests is our highest mission.
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Ritz-Carlton Service Quality indicators
Case Study
44
improvement by every worker, demanding the questioning of every process
and testing of all assumptions. Errors and defects are viewed as learning
opportunities to remove waste and improve efficiency. In 1951, Eiji
Toyada instituted a system of creative suggestions based on the motto
“Good think in, Good Products,” which is prominently displayed in every
production facility: one example is the Rakuraku seat, a comfortable work
chair mounted on the tip of an arm that allows a line worker to easily get
into an out of cramped car body interiors. In 2000, more than 65000
suggestions were submitted-almost 12 per employee and 99 percent were
adopted.
At Toyota, everybody helps whenever they can. Even top and middle
managers are well-known for getting their “hand dirty” by helping workers
on the production line when necessary. Toyota uses games, competitions,
and cultural events to promote its 3C’s: creativity, challenge, and courage.
It trains workers extensively, not only in job skills, but also in personal
development that focuses on positive attitudes and a sense of responsibility.
Toyota’s education system includes formal education, on-the job training,
and informal education.
Toyota is implementing a direct monitoring system that supports
quality. For example, its French plant is connected by a broadband system
to the head office, enabling it to transit video, audio, and facility
performance data, engineering Japan can monitor the data of the plant’s
operation in real time, check machinery utilization rates, diagnose
malfunctions, and provide ideas for improvement. Information technology
and e-commerce are also used to expand relationships with suppliers and
customers. For example, customers may request quotes and gather
information that previously was only available to dealers.
Shotaro Kamiya, first president of Toyota Motor Sales, stated. “The
priority in receiving benefits from automobile sales should be in the order
of the customer, then the car dealer, and lastly the maker, the attitude in the
best approach in winning the trust of customers and dealers and ultimately
bring growth to the manufacture” The guiding principles of Toyota are as
follows:
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1. Honor the language and spirit of the law of every nation and
undertake open and fair corporate activities to be a good corporate
citizen of the world.
2. Respect the culture and customs of every nation and contribute to
economic and social development through corporate activities in the
communities.
3. Dedicate ourselves to providing clean and safe products and to
enhancing the quality of life everywhere through all our activities.
4. Create and develop advance technologies and provide outstanding
products and services that fulfill the needs of customers worldwide.
5. Foster corporate culture that enhances individual creativity and
teamwork value, while honoring mutual trust and respect between
labor and management.
6. Pursue growth in harmony with the global community through
innovative management.
7. Work with business partners in research and creation to achieve
stable, long-term growth and mutual benefits, while keeping
ourselves open to new partnerships
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Corporate video
I. Identify problems
II. Give at least 4 Alternative Course of Action
III. Give two Recommendation
CAROLINE E.
BASILAN
College
Instructor
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