Total Quality Management Survey Analysis - Case Study Example

Running Head: Total Quality Management TQM Survey Paper By ___________________________ Total Quality Management is related to theenhancement of any old or new business. It is however a modern technique which is necessary for survival in this competitive world. The simple definition of TQM is "The art of managing the whole [from A to Z in an organization] to achieve a degree of excellence"(Besterfield 1: 2003). TQM is basically following six principles, which are relating it to many aspects of the business, those are 1. An involved and committed management to provide a long-term organizational support. 2. An intense focus on both, internal and external customers. 3. Effective involvement and utilization of entire staff. 4. Constant and continuous improvement in the business performance. 5. Working through synergy with suppliers. 6. Establishing the performance measures for various areas. In this discussion, we would be analyzing three companies from manufacturing, service and not for profit organizations and would be further analyzing customer driven quality, leadership, employee management and training and measurement, monitoring with analysis for each and every organization. Manufacturing Organization: (Caterpillar Co.) The Organization that I am going to discuss is the Caterpillar, the company was found in 1925 as a result of a merger with Holt Manufacturing Co. and it strived and settled it self because of the lack of competition, they were the pioneers in manufacturing the construction equipments of that time which were also used in the world war I and II effectively. The company is manufacturing seven types of products, but has a list of four hundred products as the seven are the main product types, originally it was formed as a heavy equipment industry and providing services such as construction and agricultural products, including tractors, engineering vehicles, bulldozers, loaders, but it has also diversified now keeping in view its customer's needs and wants, and so it also started making the rough and tough shoes. The company was having the revenue of about US $ 36.339 Billion in the year 2005 and it is currently employing about 77,000 people approximately, the organizational culture that the company is showing is strong enough in terms of services they are providing right now, it was all due to the fierce competition with Komatsu that the company decided to change its culture in 1990s as a result they are having very strong hold in the market, the culture was weak before 1990s as there were so many of the labor strikes and a lot of shutdown processing, but sooner the company identified its weakness and worked on it, one of the biggest reasons of its success is that now the entire union of employees work together and corporate at their level best with the customer as a result the company has achieved excellence, which was otherwise not possible if there wouldn't be any team work or if there was no maximum utilization of the work force they have. The Customers of Caterpillar are usually construction firms and also few contractors having construction business, as no body can buy the Caterpillar products for the personal use, thus all the efforts are directed on the industrial business zone rather than private customers. The customers are viewing Caterpillar a high quality product as the company has produced even the custom made equipments for them, without accepting nonconformance. The features, performance, conformance, reliability, durability, service, response and reputations are the quality dimensions, which have been attracting the customers from a long time. The leadership has played a major part in the survival of Caterpillar Co. No body can expect a company to resist the pressure when the labor turns against it, here the leadership played a vital role for Caterpillar, now the organization has recruited people who are already excelled in their fields and have no complaints against the organization, the employees are being treated as family members and all of these people work as a family, which automatically assures that the organization is very strong. The modern leadership followed in the company is coaching, facilitating and mentoring the followers to get the desired results. The company has delivered in both on the job and off the job training methods for employees, but it is because of the fact that the company believed in empowerment of employees and thus only a good leader was a main source, which was provided to them. The last important part that company emphasizes on and which has also gained the company a big success is its inspection or monitoring department, the company believes in Six-sigma approach, which is about having almost zero defect, they do not manufacture small product on a line, there products are huge and thus they check it through a special inspecting staff. Service Organization: (James Walter Thompson) John Willard Marriott initially started a hospitality chain of restaurants which was the first step towards actual Marriott, like every business man, he recognized the opportunity and exploited that opportunity by taking few risks and established a small root beer stand in Washington in 1927, he is recognized as a small business owner who initiated few big ideas to be a biggest name in hospitality entrepreneurship, he first started a motel by the name of Marriott in 1957 however he previously had developed a chain of Marriott restaurants in United States, also he had done several businesses in the same field between 20s and 50s. The company took the name Marriott Inc. in 1967. So the initial mission of Marriott was to provide people with entertainment and a unique service which today has become so common, it would not be unfair to say that Marriott is the role model in brining innovation in the hospitality industry. The company had first started proving just the core service, that was people having some normal stay at the motel, with out any frills attached, but as the competition and awareness grew, and thus innovation and continuous improvement goal became visible and Marriott took an initiative to be in the league of pioneers in the hospitality industry, he now had focus on augmented services, which are full of luxury and something extra for the customer. The customers seek the excellence in quality by the atmosphere and environment that is provided to them, in terms of quality dimensions, the customers are attracted towards Marriott by its performance, features which include luxury, conformance as it is an international organization, reliability, service without which Marriott would not have been the same, Aesthetics which is again a change in surroundings and the reputation of Marriott. The leadership is an attribute it self to Marriott, as he worked so hard to make his dream come true, the three important aspects of a great leader were all there in Marriott, as he was visionary, communicator, and a task master. It was because of his proper guidance that his son Bill Marriott was able to sustain the pressure, after the death of Marriott. After Marriott's death his son Marriott Jr. took over and did work for expanding the chain and its operations but he was never that competent to his father. "By the time he died, the Marriott Company operated 1,400 restaurants and 143 hotels and resorts worldwide, earned $ 4.5 billion in revenue annually with 154,600 employees. The company's interests even extended to a line of cruise ships and theme parks"(O'Brien). About the employee training and management, the company is very cautious indeed, they recruit people, make them move from several stages of learning and then bring them to front. However, in the times of Marriott Sr., the company had a complete congenial working environment, Marriott himself believes that the role of management is vital in his organization and he keeps on trying his level best in order to make the employees as happier as he can. "In establishing the culture of the company, there was a lot of attention and tender loving care paid to the hourly workers. When they were sick, he went to see them. When they were in trouble, he got them out of trouble. He created a family loyalty"(Bill Marriott). Also Marriott believes, "You've got to make your employees happy. If the employees are happy, they are going to make the customers happy" (John Willard Marriott). About the monitoring and analysis, the company is yet having a strong customer complaint and support department, they really encourage the customers to keep on suggesting them the ideas for continuous improvement, however Marriott Sr. used to be very careful at his own when he ran the organization. According to O'Brien who has also written Marriott's biography: "His managers never knew what time of day or night he'd show up at the kitchen door and go bird-dogging almost at a half-run through the kitchen, the pantries, the storage rooms, the refrigerators, the restaurant itself, running a finger over the shelves to check for dust, checking under tables and in cutlery drawers, checking the ranges, the storage rooms, the trays about to be served, sampling the root beer, and raising hell if everything wasn't spotless, neat, clean, bright, polished, done efficiently, done well". Non Profit Organization: (UNICEF) UNICEF is an organization that is having operations in 158 countries and territories providing clean water, health care, improved nutrition, and education to millions of children in Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. The suppliers are usually donators, who give money so that underprivileged people can get some help, however the customers in this case are these underprivileged people, the organization is helping those people by providing them or trying to provide them necessities of life which could at least give them a hope, for such people the only concerns are the core values, they do not want any thing extra, they believe in service, response, and reputation of UNICEF. The leadership has again got a big part to play, especially when you have got a charity organization to run. The propose again is to work as much closely as possible and using personal contacts to gain the sums for poor, also to influence others in way that all the employees think that they all should work like their leaders and should bring their contacts in use, it is the only organization in which leadership is "the only" thing. The training of employees is somewhat different, the organization emphasizes on their communication skills, their postings to various places around the world to see things that are not supposed to happen, to inform and give quicker response so that an action plan can be carried out. Finally, the monitoring procedure is quite simple, the organization's representatives just take a look at what change have occurred, is it positive or negative, are people being served happy or not, what more can be done, how is it possible to minimize the spending and benefit the people the most And many related questions. Reference & Bibliography Besterfield D.H, "Total Quality Management", New York: Pearson Education, 2003. John Decks, "Business and Culture of Enterprise Society", Westport, CT: Quorum, 1993. Wikipedia, . Caterpillar Co, . UNICEF, . Read More