Quality Management - Johnson & Johnson - Research Paper Example

Quality Management Introduction Johnson & Johnson is a company based in the United s of America that is specialized in selling a wide array of products to the customers in the field of healthcare. The company was founded in the year 1886 and since then it has established itself as a global business unit. In the present day context, it is operating in 60 nations with 275 companies due to which the organization is recognized all over the world regarding the products and allied quality (Eells, 2014). However, the company has been facing a series of problems in relation to its product quality which has resulted in raising major concerns. This in turn has also resulted in hampering the reputation of the company in the global business world. The main reason for the problem of quality control in the company is due to the reluctance of the manufacturing units to maintain adequate quality control. Likewise, the company is also facing the problem of ineffectual action of correction in order to respond to the complaints of the customers (Stewart & Paine, n.d.). The focus of this paper is to identify certain problems related to quality management in Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Therefore, certain initiatives for quality management will be provided that would mitigate the problem being faced by the company. Problem Statement The paper intends to describe the problems related to quality management in Johnson & Johnson. Quality management has resulted in raising major concerns in the company due to which the reputation of the organization is at stake. Quality management and the problem related to this aspect has been briefly explained in this paper which provides a clear understanding regarding the effects faced by a company due to this problem. The aspect of quality management for a company has been determined to be of immense value to mitigate and avoid the allied problems associated with its overall operational aspects. The paper identifies that a company’s problem for effective quality management can be related to poor quality levels of the products being manufactured. The problem of quality management being faced by Johnson & Johnson has made the company to recall its products being sold in the market. The paper also reveals that this particular problem has resulted in jeopardizing the reputation of Johnson & Johnson by a greater extent which in turn has adversely affected its global business operation. Thus, the paper emphasizes providing certain initiatives along with recommendations that would make Johnson & Johnson overcome the problem related to quality management. Literature Review In the contemporary business environment, it has been accepted that quality management is a strategically important aspect for a company. It is believed that quality management provides a competitive advantage along with enhancing the operational ability of a company. According to Lee & Chang (2010), there are various theoretical models of quality management which include Six Sigma, Lean Principles, Total Quality Management (TQM), Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Balanced Scorecard (BSC) (Lee & Chang, 2010). It is considered that application of these theories in a business functioning is quite important as it would initiate an effective quality management process for a company. In relation to the challenges of quality management being faced by semi-pharmaceutical companies such as J&J and other companies like Pfizer Inc., Novartis AG and Covidien plc it has been witnessed that due to the rise in complication of clinical trials and frequent changes in the government regulations, effective quality management has been quite challenging (Walrath et al., 2013). Quality management is the most important aspect for an organization in the present day context as it is believed that appropriate quality management helps an organization to achieve the desired results in relation to the quality of products. It is considered that quality management for J&J has resulted in arising various problems due to which the reputation of the company and its products are in a declining phase. According to Thawesaengskulthai (2007), quality management is to be given huge consideration by an organization so as to improve its range of products being manufactured and sold in the market. It has been viewed that due to the evolution and increased emphasis being given to quality management various continuous improvement approaches have been developed which include Six Sigma and TQM amid others (Thawesaengskulthai, 2007). The evolution of quality management has been categorized into four phases that include the inspection phase, statistical process control phase, quality assurance phase and the phase of strategic quality management. In relation to J&J, quality management is quite essential in order to attain global brand recognition and sustainable growth. However, it is believed that providing high quality products and services to the patients and customers who avail the products of J&J is a huge challenge. Moreover, it is also believed that this challenge can turn out to be advantageous for the company in the coming future. Excellence in quality management will provide a robust growth to the company along with building a better responsibility for the quality of products being manufactured and sold to the customers (Thawesaengskulthai, 2007). Quality management is also vital as it would enable the company to standardize its products along with ascertaining efficiency in its operations. J&J has been the leader in the health care industry from the past few years and it is regarded that improving the quality management process of the organization would ensure that the company will position itself as the leading brand being used in the health care industry. It has been revealed that J&J has made a huge investment in the research and development department with the aim of ensuring effectiveness in the quality management process along with providing high quality products to the customers. According to Quinn (2011), maintaining quality of the products and meeting the regulatory requirements have been the prime challenges being faced by J&J and certain other leading pharmaceutical industry based companies. Therefore, it has been proposed that quality packaging can be an important part of quality management for an organization so as to enhance the quality level of products (Quinn, 2011). It has been observed that pharmaceutical companies such as J&J have been going through a phase of product recall due to certain defects being discovered in the products. Due to these factors, clinical trials for the products manufactured have been conducted more strictly which has increased the complexity for these market leaders. This complexity hampers these pharmaceutical companies as the products manufactured have to be subjected to various clinical trials which differ for every nation. As stated by Quinn, in the year 2011, there were many product recalls by pharmaceutical companies due to inappropriate packaging undertaken by them. Consequently, it is considered that employing a quality management system that has already been proven is the best approach to improve the standard of products manufactured along with reducing the risk of recall (Quinn, 2011). In the present day purview, it has been witnessed that maintaining the required quality level of products and meeting the standards framed by government regulations have been given major emphasis due to the changing government policies. Likewise, in relation to the changing government regulation, it has been viewed that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has further imposed certain obligations on the production of drugs wherein approval is required from the FDA regarding the quality assurance of the products produced by these pharmaceutical companies. These obligations include that the product must be protected from adulteration, tampering and any other physical damage (Quinn, 2011). It is believed that quality assurance is an integral part of quality management and a pharmaceutical company must develop certain corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs) in order to ensure that the problems related to quality management are completely removed or reduced by a significant extent. Companies while manufacturing the products must primarily focus on their security, durability and performance. Moreover, it is also considered that the most effective approach to reduce the problem related to quality management is to centralize the entire management process of the organization which includes the quality processes along with the standards to be maintained (Quinn, 2011). Analysis Johnson & Johnson in the year 2010 had to go through a restructuring process in its hierarchical level of manufacturing as the company was facing problems related to its quality management wherein the level of quality in its product was continuously deteriorating (Pepitone, 2010). It is revealed that Johnson & Johnson had to make multiple recalls for its McNeil division which produced Tylenol as it was reported that the Tylenol had a strange moldy odor which resulted in causing nausea, indigestion and diarrhea to the users who consumed it. This in turn led to damaging the reputation of company wherein numerous lawsuits were filed against Johnson & Johnson by the FDA. Although the division of McNeil claimed that corrective actions were taken against the concerns of poor quality level but after some months the products manufactured at the division were recalled again as they had some problems with the ingredients (Pepitone, 2010). Consequently, after a few years, it was believed that the company would regain back the trust of its customers but there was a serious lapse in its quality level due to which the company had to recall two of its renowned products. It was revealed that Risperdal Consta which is an injectable treatment for antipsychotic patients had to be recalled as after the test it was found that the product was mold. At the same time, 200,000 liquid bottles of Motrin also had to be recalled which was manufactured for infants as it was discovered that the product contained some minute particles of plastic in it (Thomas, 2013). Thus, it was observed that there were several questions raised against Johnson & Johnson and its divisions for the poor quality level of its products. However, the company in both the situations acclaimed that the danger to the patients was relatively lower as there was no report regarding any severe harm to the patients. According to the report of Thomas, it was stated that the problem regarding quality management was not getting repaired and there was a huge concern regarding quality control in the company. On the other hand, the Johnson & Johnson claimed that it was mainly focused towards identifying the problems so as to develop the quality of products (Thomas, 2013). It was also claimed that the company itself recalled the product as it was primarily concerned about its customers and their well-being. It was revealed that the company had undertaken various steps to rebuild its trust and brand image in the global market due to which the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of J&J William C. Weldon was replaced by Alex Gorsky. The main reason behind this replacement was that the former CEO was mainly focused towards cost cutting and reducing the cost of production instead of emphasizing the quality of products manufactured. Therefore, the new CEO of J&J Alex Gorsky took the initiative of fixing the problems related to its quality by mainly focusing on the quality management of the company (Thomas, 2013). Even though the company took major steps for solving the quality related problem, it was viewed that the company had to encounter continuous problems related to its quality control time and time again. During May 2013, J&J had to recall Children’s Tylenol that was manufactured in South Korea as it was identified that acetaminophen that was an ingredient in Tylenol for relieving pain was relatively high. Moreover, J&J had to recall numerous birth pills form Europe, America and Asia as the hormone content in the pill was not appropriately getting released in the body (Thomas, 2013). These facts provide evidence that J&J’s reputation was at stake as it was facing serious problems regarding its quality control and quality management. Recommendations and Conclusion From the above analysis, it can be identified that J&J has been facing quality management problem due to which the company has been continuously recalling the products manufactured by its divisions. Therefore, it is considered that Six Sigma would be the best approach to be initiated by J&J in its quality management process so as to ensure that the problem related to quality management and product recall would be completely reduced (Zu et al., 2008). It can be recommended that under Six Sigma initiative, J&J must categorize its improvement experts in the organization which would comprise the champions i.e. the top level management, black belts i.e. the middle level management and the green belts i.e. the lower level management. It is considered that there must be a hierarchal coordination within these experts wherein the champions would develop a plan for improvement of quality management in J&J and the black belts would execute the plan developed by mentoring the green belts so as to solve the problem associated with quality management. It has been recommended that Six Sigma would be the best initiative for problem associated with quality management in J&J as it follows a systematic approach of “Define–Measure–Analyze–Improve–Control (DMAIC)” which would completely neutralize the problem (Zu et al., 2008). Reflection From the identification of the problem related to quality management being faced by J&J, I could understand that the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry is subjected to end number of complexities. I could also learn that maintaining the standard and quality of the products is quite significant for this industry as inappropriate maintenance might result in product recall of the companies that was witnessed in the case of J&J. Moreover, maintaining ethical and social responsibility is also an important part for these companies as the products manufactured would be purchased by the customers if it is trust-worthy and reliable. I could also reveal that coordination among the various departments of J&J would be an important aspect along with centralization of authority for decision making that would ensure that the problem associated with quality management is completely removed from J&J. References Eells, S. (2014).Company Information. Retrieved from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/johnson_and_johnson/index.html Lee, M. & Chang, T. (2010). Developing a Lean Design for Six Sigma through Supply Chain Methodology. Int. J. Productivity and Quality Management, 6(4), 407-434. Pepitone, J. (2010). Johnson & Johnson CEO Maps Quality Shake Up. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/18/news/companies/johnson_johnson_manufacturing/ Quinn, F. J. (2011). Recalls Stimulate Scrutiny of Quality Assurance in Drug Packaging. Retrieved from http://accelrys.com/about/news-pr/discoverant-pdf/2011/pharma-commerce-recalls-stimulate-scrutiny-on-quality-nov-2011.pdf Stewart, K. L. & Paine, W. S. (n.d.). Johnson & Johnson: An Ethical Analysis of Broken Trust. Journal of Academic and Business Ethics, 1-11. Thawesaengskulthai, N. (2007). Selecting Quality Management and Improvement Initiatives: Case studies of industries in Thailand. University of Nottingham, pp. 1-233. Thomas, K. (2013). New Recalls by Johnson & Johnson Raise Concern About Quality Control Improvements. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/business/new-recalls-by-johnson-johnson-raise-concern-about-quality-control-improvements.html?_r=0 Walrath, I., Glessner, C., Cheung, A, & Ressler, D. (2013). The New Gold Standard: Pfizer’s Quality by Design Approach to Trail Management. Pharmaceutical Executive, 1-6. Zu, X., Fredendall, L. D. & Douglas, T. J. (2008). The Evolving Theory of Quality Management: The Role of Six Sigma. Journal of Operations Management, 26, 630-650. Read More