Improving Prison Organization Service Through Total Quality Management - Coursework Example

Total Quality Management Introduction Total Quality Management can be defined as "a management philosophy that seeks to integrate all organizational functions (marketing, finance, design, engineering, and production, customer service, etc.) to focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives" (www.isixsigma.com). TQM is a recognized as a management tool that applicable in private and public sector organizations. There are three major principles under TQM. They are the satisfaction of the customer; satisfaction of the supplier; and continuous improvement. Analysis The Governor's remark that TQM is myth or wishful thinking has been negated by empirical evidence over the years. TQM has become part of the organizational culture within the operational environment of the business organization. For instance within the administrative setup of the prison organization, a number of departments interact on a daily basis. As much as a manufacturing or a service organization produces and sells a product for profits, the prison is an organization that delivers a service to the community though the community might not pay directly for the service. Theoretically the concept of TQM has three major principles such as satisfaction of the customer; satisfaction of the supplier; and continuous improvement. The first and major principle of TQM is to satisfy the customer who purchases the product or service. In fact customers always seek value for money when they buy a product or service (Stasiowski, & Burstein, 1993). Thus there are main sub categories under the first principle, i.e. users, company philosophy, internal customers and chain of customers. In the first instance user of the service can be different from the purchaser and therefore both the user and the customer must be satisfied. In the case of the prison management the service rendered to the society at large by efficiently managing the prison would be articulated in terms of the benefits that accrue to the society through such efficient management. For instance a continuous improvement in the quality of the service means that troubles and tribulations of all stakeholders including prisoners themselves would be reduced. In the internal organizational context of a prison quality improvement of service would reduce stress on employees and the general administration would improve to reduce the burden on the management. Thus the second sub-principle is centered on repeat sales to customers under TQM. In the prison management context, TQM enables the management to reduce internal conflicts that arise from friction between the management and prisoners. This must be the philosophy of the prison organization. Internal customers' satisfaction is the next sub principle under customer satisfaction is very important in the context of the prison management because managers onwards act as internal customers of services provided by employees. Minor offenders who are spending very short terms in the jail can be enrolled to provide their labor in respect of some services. For example gardeners and office peons are often those minor offenders who might be paid or not for their service (Pilgrim, & Smith, 2000). Customers of such service are primarily the departmental heads such as the meals department. The head of the meals department might co-opt the services of prisoners to clean and cut vegetables, fish and meat. Thus departmental heads might be satisfies with such labor if the latter is performed under efficient management conditions. TQM refers to the chain of customers as a sub category under the main principle of customer satisfaction. In the context of the prison management it is possible to discuss about the existence of an element of customers who purchase prison produce such as handlooms, farm products and agricultural produce made by prisoners. However it depends on the nature of the prison and the prisoners. For example murder convicts and similar major offenders are less likely to be employed on open camp, farms and factories. Customers who often purchase goods and services provided by open prisons are influenced by not so much an attitude. In fact their attitude towards what they buy and the supplier is the same. The second major principle of satisfying suppliers can be divided in to internal and external suppliers. Internal suppliers in the context of the prison are in fact the labor suppliers and therefore are not much important. However external suppliers of men and material have a big impact on TQM policies and initiatives of the organization. For example suppliers of food, stationary, water, power, equipment, furniture and so on have to be satisfied because if they are not satisfied the external supply chain management will breakdown, thus leading to deficiencies in quality and performance (Goetsch, & Davis, 2003). Such satisfaction of external suppliers would enable employees to perform better. For example in the prison management context managers and supervisors would need external supplies to be made available to employees in time and in good condition. Therefore when suppliers are satisfied the increased efficiency would translate in to internal employees' efficiency. The Governor of the prison has to focus attention on the probability of increasing efficiency at each level within the organization. However it must be noted that both internal value chain management and external supply chain management require a degree of concerted effort on the part of the management to reduce shortcomings directly related to the organizational structure. In other words the prison management and organizational structure often assumes a vertical downward command posture. Therefore it is essential that prison authorities think of changing the management and organizational structure to implement efficiency improvement programs at the internal value chain and external supply chain management levels. Employee empowerment is also associated with the same process. In fact employees in the context of the prison can be divided in to those formally hired paid hands and those serving short terms for minor offences. However when it comes to the question of labor management and employee empowerment a distinction cannot be made. Bothe the groups have to be empowered in order to meaningfully adopt TQM initiatives and policies (Goetsch, & Davis, 2009). For example the formation of quality circles and teams with corresponding empowerment of their leaders could lead to higher productivity. In the case of this prison managed by the private sector naturally the resource allocation process will be carried out on demand and supply basis alone. Therefore it is essential that employees must be empowered to carry out their duties with a singular focus on TQM initiatives. Finally under the major TQM principle of continuous improvement the top management of the prison must pay attention to the fact that simply forming quality circles and teams and empowering employees would not help if continuous improvement were not practiced. Therefore continuous improvement is essential as a basis for TQM initiatives to be implemented successfully (Constance, 2008). Actually continuous improvement refers to hard work and consistency. In other words it is a scientific way of improving the work standards at the organizational level. The failure to do so might increase costs and reduce the organization's ability to focus on quality improvement. Quality circles and teams are formed with a view to obtaining suggestions of workers. In other words if suggestions made by employees were ignored, they would be discouraged. Therefore it is necessary to improve not only quality but also the quality of inputs by way of suggestions. TQM policies can include in Six Sigma principles. As a business management strategy Six Sigma can be identified as a best practice in many businesses including prison management by the private sector. Six Sigma can be defined as "a measure of quality for near perfection" (www.isixsigma.com). In fact some of the private sector prison organizations are focusing their attention on innovative ways to overcome some of the challenges in prison administration including create safety environment for prisoners and efficiency of the service delivery. Thus Six Sigma strategies can be used to enhance the quality of the service in the prison management by reducing the errors and variability in service process. Therefore it can be used as a quality management method within the prison management departments with sequence of steps to achieve desirable objectives such as improving the quality of the service, efficient service delivery, prison safety, reducing the cost and increasing the profits and so on. As a result prison administrators are experiencing positive outcomes on prisoners, staff and the bottom line. The relationship between the management and the subordinates of the prison has been brought into sharper focus here owing to the very important decisions involving quality management initiatives and practices and above all the existence of a dichotomy between the theory and the Six Sigma approaches shows that indisputably international TQM practices under cultural diversity have to be adopted in a variety of contexts. This is none so well borne out than by the fact that where there are international culturally diverse TQM practices in organizations there is a precise tendency to define quality management strategy in keeping with long term organizational goals. This is in sharp contrast to the inefficiencies associated with less culturally diverse workforces elsewhere where organizational outcomes and goals tend to be synonymous with inward looking local practices. Conclusion Prison management has been surveyed by this researcher and come to the conclusion that managers and prison authorities have adopted the same TQM policies and initiatives on a global level though there has been some criticism about the changing employee attitudes towards quality service. Thus this paper has successfully established a set of positive correlations between a number of TQM strategies and related key performance indicators and the organizational outcomes especially concerning customers, suppliers and continuous improvement strategies in prison management. Particularly the environment and customer satisfaction related policies have shown a progressive improvement. Privately managed prison operations in North England in particular are characterized by a highly strategic set of policies and rules in the operational environment. Against this backdrop its current TQM practices are essentially influenced by the organization's quality management programs as undertaken by the prison administrators. The management is determined to bring about a real change in the quality of service and performance of staff. Prison management by private sector in North England has to identify the priorities in the context of TQM and performance management. International TQM practices in culturally diverse and complex organizational settings as that of the prison management require a fair degree of restructuring based on motivating the customers, suppliers and employees to achieve predefined targets. There is also the requirement for restructuring of private prison institutional systems to achieve a fair degree of success in these TQM programs. Thus the Governor's attitude must be the converse. REFERENCES 1. Constance, S 2008, 'HM Prison Service: business partnering inside,' Strategic HR Review, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 32 - 36Top of Form. 2. Goetsch, DL & Davis, S 2009, Quality Management for Organizational Excellence: Introduction to Total Quality, 6th edn, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. 3. Goetsch , DL & Davis, SB 2003, Quality Management: Introduction to Total Quality Management for Production, Processing, and Services, 4th edn, Prentice Hall, New York. 4. Pilgrim, S & Smith, A 2000, 'The need for a socio-ethnic policy in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders: ACES (Apex Community Entrepreneurs Scheme) a step in the right direction', International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 20, no. 5/6, pp. 39 - 48. 5. Stasiowski, FA & Burstein, D 1993, Total Quality Project Management for the Design Firm: How to Improve Quality, Increase Sales, and Reduce Costs, John Wiley & Sons, New York.Top of Form 6. Definition of the TQM and Six Sigma, Retrieved from www.isixsigma.com on December 13, 2009. 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