Systems and Processes Management - Term Paper Example

Systems and Processes Management Introduction While aiming to achieve long-term success as well as development, there is a need for organizations to and the management to focus on means of initiating the quality of all systems and structures within the organization. A discussion aimed at worker's improvement only leads to the attainment of short-term goals and fails the long-term goals of sustainability. These improvements stem from, administration, marketing, distribution, communication to others. Through structuring the strategy of an organization to attain a customer-focused aspect, an organization will ensure continuous improvement, as opposed to work rate and production increases. Attaining the best within an organization’s operations, therefore, may mean engaging in a number of factors that all aim at improving the total quality of management. Some essential definitions include the process of commitment as well as involvement of high-level managers in ensuring policies and objectives setting plus efficient resource allocation while also monitoring the outcomes. It may also entail the process of understanding internal and external needs that keep changing among customers and other relevant stakeholders then employ means of ensuring their satisfaction in a cost effective approach (Mandal, 2011). Where the management focuses on workers improvements alone, the overall result leads to an increase in the quantity as opposed to quality of products. Quantity-based approach may only benefit an organization in the short-run where other organization whose idea is to focus on consumer-based approach thrives. The paper, therefore, explores how organizations may improve the total quality through a focus on all the systems and individuals as opposed to employees focus. Statement of the Problem Management needs to plant the seeds and initiate a quality program, if not what do workers have to reference to create a quality product. Theoretical Bases and Organization The paper bases its research on organization improvements through a different focus as opposed to workers only approach through cross-examining the works of Dr. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, as well as Philip Crosby. The three individuals remain the most influential gurus of management who ensured a change of focus from the traditional management approach of increasing production levels, to that of improving the total quality management. Their works played a significant role in shaping the manufacturing industry through a change of companies’ views for satisfaction of consumers, needs of the organizations workers and the relations with suppliers (Naidu and Babu, 2010). The idea of total quality management focuses on achieving means of serving customers through wholly re-engineering processes as well as improving systems. The aim is making improvements in products and services to meet customer expectations while at the same time ensure the needs of workers and other stakeholders are observed. The three management gurus came up with different developments towards attaining Total Quality Management (TQM) with all their contribution remaining significant to date. Dr. Edwards Deming played a significant role in changing the lives of people and organizations through driving improvements to better-working ways. His developments ensure all business sectors, institutions as well as households to continually attain success through continuous improvement of processes. His earlier life led to his development and experience of hardships so that encompassing and realizing the need of cooperation in every aspect of life. As an engineer and physics expert, and his early enrollment in statistics through the theory of knowledge and systems thinking, he managed to integrate the ideas from the different fields. His focus was on the manner of individual’s learning, systems theory as well as psychology leading to the development of profound knowledge theory. The theory focuses on broadening the focus of leaders and managers to focus on organizations as social, dynamic units and predict their performance through continuous improvements. Through employing these ideas in the rapidly changing world, organizations keep on track with the changes. His philosophy development is attributed to his involvement in helping Japanese recovery of the export industry after destruction during the World War II. Through his approach of training the Japanese to produce quality goods through minimal costs as opposed to quantity, he developed a revolutionary idea throughout 1950. Deming’s advice for the Japanese auto and export companies emphasized in treating the manufacturing process as a system as opposed to the pieces, and bits earlier emphasized. In managing the production process as a system, the quality improves through inclusion of suppliers and customers and consequentially relying on customer feedbacks to rectify and enhance any requirements. He continually advised the companies to enhance those working in the system through provision of resources and efficient communication (Naidu and Babu, 2010). The Japanese auto, as well as electronic companies and lately a number of American organizations, adopted his ideas leading to tremendous growth and achievements. Through continuous improvements of his teachings, organizations to date have ensured developments through improving the required areas. Eliminating non-essential roles like middle-level management to end hierarchies that delay organizations operations also remain an important aspect of Deming’s teachings. Deming’s teachings are generally based on his fourteen points that he believed served as essential guidelines for management teams that aim to achieve TQM. These points serve as the basis for attaining success through ensuring development of efficient working place that eventually leads increased quality of products that drives sales volume. The first point relates to the creation and communicating to all workers what the organization intends to attain. Secondly, since the changes occur in every aspect of group engagement, adapting to that new philosophy remain essential. Next, building of quality within a product should occur throughout the production process. The next aspect relates to the need of putting an end to the approach of price tag as means of measuring business success (Mandal, 2011). The focus needs to aim at examining the long-run relationships that result from loyalty and trust. The next aspect relates to always working within the organization to improve the quality, as well as productivity. Ensuring the employees engage in on-the-job training also remains essential. Next, teaching and instituting leadership among employees will provide improvements in overall functions of the job. The next aspect relates to an approach of driving fear that exist among the employees and replace it with trust. The other point refers to ensuring a reduction of interdepartmental conflicts as they affect the overall performance of the organization. The need to eliminate exhortations among the workforce ranks as the next principle with morale boosting serving to replace exhortations. The next principle refers to putting an end to any barriers that take away workmanship pride enjoyed among workers. Then the management needs to enhance education within the organization that aims at attaining self-improvements for all. Lastly, all members of the organization require inclusion whenever the organization engages in any transformation activity. The fourteen principles remain essential for any organization intending to attain growth, survival and attainment of competitive advantage. In other means, Deming’s philosophy of work the fourteen principles focus on is to manage with a focus on continuous improvement of systems as well as processes that in return will ensure the improved outcome (Walton, 2010). His attribute to believing that 94% and above of defects in goods and services results from the system, as opposed to careless employees astonished majority. But upon testing on improving the systems, most of the American managers who earlier opposed Deming’s philosophy were surprised to understand the outcome was supportive of his believe. These managers realized the management and the systems possessed significant errors that eventually translated to defects in the products produced. Joseph Juran like Deming’s approach to quality control stems from Japanese roots as a result of failure of attainment of quality products from Japanese companies products irrespective of price-competitive measures. Upon earning his graduation in Electrical Engineering, Juran worked as an engineer with the famous lint attributing to his role as the inspection department head of the renowned Hawthorne works. The Western Electric work served as his first job and an eventual stimulator to his interest in the field of quality attainment. With the plant serving over forty thousand workers and over five thousand in inspection, Juran’s memory allowed him to recall all the settings within the organization prompting his starting point for search of quality. His abilities were consequently acknowledged and accorded a leadership role to lead a research from Bell laboratories in Hawthorne. His experience during the process led to his first work that focused on the statistical methods that are applicable to curb manufacturing problems. His work was recognized by various companies and individuals that eventually led to his appointment as a second assistant administrator to Lend-Lease Company in Washington (Mandal, 2011). In the organization, he helped them reduce costs through ensuring a streamlined shipment of documents that provided a reduction of the documents required. Back to Western Electric in 1945, he wrote Quality Control Handbook that prompted his invitation in 1954 to Japan. Upon receiving an invite by JUSE like Deming, he emphasized in lectures that aimed at introducing the management dimensions that involve the three Pareto principles of organizing, planning as well as controlling while also focusing on the directors responsibility in ensuring that quality achievement is emphasized together with the need for achieving goals (Walton, 2010). He attributes quality to encompass fitness for use through designing and conformance while also incorporating safety, as well as field use. In examining these characteristics, Juran’s concept includes the customers approach as these qualities will serve as customer’s primary focus in order to get satisfaction with products. He consistently emphasizes on measuring the organization’s performance through systems and problem-solving approaches. In attaining these projections, Juran recommends ten steps that he believes will enhance quality improvement. First step includes the process of building awareness on the need to improve. Setting of goals, organizing on the means to attain goals as well as providing training represents the second, third and fourth steps respectively (Juran, 2009). Next steps involve engaging in projects that aim at solving problems and consequently follow that with the other step that involves progress reporting. Giving recognition, effective communication of attained results and maintenance of score refer to the next three levels respectively. Lastly, to maintain the momentum of quality improvement is essential and requires incorporating annual growth among regular processes and systems of the organization. Deming and Juran remain with no doubt the greatest quality revolution pioneers, but Philip Crosby used his knowledge of understanding quality to present an understanding of a simple form. His books “Quality without Tears” as well as “Quality is Free” remain significant indicators of his quality knowledge and exploration (McGeorge, 2011). Through his experience in the assembly, Crosby focused on zero defects and realized that the problem of zero defects originated beyond the assembly line that the management kept emphasizing workers to achieve. He attributed that in order to achieve a zero-defect manufacturing outcome, the role of management remained essential as they need to set footway for other employees to follow. Through the management failure of creating systems where zero defects fail to exist, the errors will continue to the assembly point. Crosby attributed the benefits that will result from creation of suitable systems as decreased waste resources that arise during production of products that customers dislike. Like the other two gurus of quality management, it remains clear that the client point of view directed Crosby into his thinking. In his definition of quality, Crosby referred conformity to specifics that executives as opposed to the general goodness and these specifications need to rely on what the customers need. His absolutes of quality are based on four concepts with the first signifying quality as conformance to what customers require as opposed to assuming goodness (Crosby, 2009). Secondly, prevention serves best in enhancing the quality as opposed to appraisal measures. Thirdly, focus on zero defects should remain the standard of attention as opposed to proximity to attaining enough. Lastly, conformance test needs to rely on the loss realized as a result of non-conformance as opposed to indices. Conclusion From a cross-examination of quality management guru’s work, it is evident that the approach towards attaining success within organizations is total quality management. With the methods tried and tested, significant achievements have resulted. It, therefore, remains the role of management to ensure the right incorporation of systems, processes, and the workforce to ensure an organization's success (McGeorge, 2011). Individual workers bear no responsibility for ensuring full production of quality products. Without the right systems and processes in place, the quality is destroyed, and the improvement of quality relies solely on the management. References Crosby, P. (2009). Quality without tears: The art of hassle-free management. New York: McGraw-Hill, 423-429. Juran, J. (2009, ). Juran's quality control handbook (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, 314-316. Mandal, S. (2011, November). Total quality management. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt, 54-56, 73. McGeorge, D. (2011, August). Construction management: New directions (Second ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Science, 413, 419-421. Naidu, N., & Babu, K. (2010, March). Total quality management. New Delhi: New Age International, 216-217. Walton, M. (2010). The Deming management method. London: Mercury Books, 71. Read More