Comparison And Contrast Of Four Concepts Of Managment - Coursework Example

Running Head: CARE, KAIZEN, JUST-IN-TIME AND TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT Compare and Contrast Care, Kaizen, Just-in-Time and Total Quality Management [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Compare and Contrast Customer Care, Kaizen, Just-in-Time and Total Quality Management Introduction In this paper a clear over view of customer Care, Kaizen, Just-in-Time and Total Quality Management shall be given. These concepts are of great importance to the business world, in this paper the importance of these concepts are discussed. Apart from this the paper also provides a comparison between the above mentioned concepts. Discussion Kaizen Masaaki Imai came up with the term Kaizen, the term means "change for the better". It is a philosophy of continuous improvement. Kaizen is the Japanese word which in today’s business world is known as Continuous Quality Improvement. Kaizen is a management approach to making an improvement in quality as well as maintaining it that emphasizes internally driven and fairly continuous assessments of possible causes of quality defects, after action which is aimed at improving quality. Quality is the meeting as well as more than what the clients expect. Quality will be gained by means of meeting client requirements. Success will be achieved if quality is well managed. Kaizen is the idea that an analysis of the process is the starting point rather than an analysis of the employee. Kaizen seeks to improve the process as oppose to blaming the employee for process flaws. Kaizen works under the basis that improvement comes by small incremental changes using the scientific method. Its main objective is to make changes and look at the results and then adjust them accordingly. This process makes Kaizen very flexible. It is moreover flexible in the sense that; large-scale preplanning and wide-ranging project scheduling are replaced by means of smaller experiments in perfection, which can be rapidly adapted as new improvements are recommended. Importance In Organization Something that organizations can do to help improve overall effectiveness or efficiency is to conduct a kaizen. The more American definition is to look at all the processes involved and to look for ways to eliminate any types of waste that there might be. For example Toyota Corporation is a company that has taken part in various kaizens to help with their processes. Eaton Corporation has also conducted different kaizens in attempt to improve a number of their procedures that they have in place in a number of areas. If a company doesnt find ways to be efficient or effective, they will fall behind their competitors in their respective industries. It is extremely essential for companies to utilize any ideas or suggestions that the employees might have in order to turn out to be more effective or proficient. Continuous improvement or Kaizen as it is commonly known is also an extremely well-liked management theory that has recently been accepted by a number of industries. It provides support to TQM in a number of ways. According to Kaizen a company has to keep itself up to date as well as attempt to improve its manufacturing and other factors that may affect its existence in the market continuously other wise there is a risk that they might be left behind and a competitor might gain the edge that was formerly possessed by the firm. JIT (Just-In-Time) The "JIT" technology in Japan is known as "Kaizen" and is used all over the country by the majority of corporations. JIT made tremendous success of the Japanese automakers such as Honda, Toyota, Mazda and Mitsubishi from the 1960- to the 1990. Many manufacturing firms are adopting Just-In-Time (JIT) practices to reduce inventory and lower production costs. Though Long (2003) notes that JIT is not an appropriate process for every company to adopt. The combination of frequent, smaller deliveries and the JIT process is a widely accepted manufacturing technique (Proffitt, 1995 p20). It is a technique employed to keep inventory levels at a minimum as parts are delivered to the firm only when needed. The increased use of JIT practices in manufacturing demands that transportation and logistics networks must be integrated with operations to fully maximize the benefits of JIT (Helms and Dileepan, 2005 p10). The transportation of merchandise to as well as from organizations is vital to the efficient operation of the JIT process. Under JIT, late deliveries are not acceptable and some companies are fining logistics suppliers if they dont meet specified targets (Helms et al, 2005 p 12). Benefit And Implementation Of JIT in Organization As previously mentioned, one of the major objectives of JIT systems is to reduce all inventories. By keeping low level of inventories, a company significantly reduces its costs. For example with the implementation of JIT, Texas Instruments lowered its WIP inventory by 60%, which subsequently resulted in quicker production lead times and more flexible manufacturing (Baljko, 1999 p 60). Epps (1995) argues that with low inventories the companies are able to identify the quality or the manufacturing problems faster and easier, since the quality assurance teams can spot any inefficiency quicker. In this way JIT firms experience considerable quality improvement and can response faster to any problems identified to ensure defect free production. Moreover, with smaller batches firms are able to reduce the amount of leverage needed to sustain a specific sales level. Exercising the latter, they are able to lower the break-even point and ultimately redirect the extra investment capital. Despite the fact that JIT offers flexible manufacturing, still the system can not effectively handle drastic demand fluctuations (more that 10%). This means that it is risky to be used in countries with unpredictable economic factors. For example Pressured by the tough competition, Ford Motor had to come out with another strategy, which would improve its assembly time, handling of incoming parts orders and transportation. The traditional approach that Ford used to employs was ineffective and inefficient since many material damages and misplacements occurred, as well the human capital and the transportation equipment were underutilized. Having this in mind, Ford had incorporated JIT system into its manufacturing processes (Kochan, 1997 p 6). Customer Care The means to a companys success is excellent customer care. For every industry customer care is of extreme importance. A growing number of organizations are realizing that with growing competition, latest technological inventions and continually improving services as well as products, consumers have a vast choice of different directions to go into. It is very important to guarantee that customer loyalty programs are an essential part of your organization. Acquiring new customers is vital, but making sure that existing customers stay is crucial. After all if existing clients are contented they will facilitate in acquiring new ones by spreading the news of the wonderful customer services. Customer care is a concept that can be covered by means of TQM, Kaizen and JIT as all work towards the improvement of quality in order to produce customer satisfaction. Implication and Importance of Customer Care in Business Gaining customer satisfaction and loyalty is very important this is why organizations continually try in keep in contact with their regurlay visitors. They do this mostly by phone and post, during these conversations the company representatives offers loyal customers special exclusive. Excellent customer service must be provided for all customers so it is important that, in addition to being able to identify their service needs. Organizations must now know how to analyze the quality of their customer service organization so than can make recommendations for improvements, if required. This will involve identifying the key quality criteria and then gathering feedback from customers and staff. Regular feedback from customers and staff allows an organization to adapt its products and services to customer needs as they change, thereby remaining competitive. Organizations use a variety of feedback techniques to find out if customers are happy with the standards of customer service they receive (Cole 2001 p 56). For example from the organization part we came to know that GrameenPhone is the market leader in the mobile telecommunication industry of Bangladesh. Their growth rate is very high. But in this edge of competition, it is very difficult to keep the leading edge intact. Companies need to come up with new ideas to remain competitive. They need to keep their customers satisfied. So, it is very important for GrameenPhone success lyes in the fact that they keep an eye if their customers are satisfied or not. If the customers are not satisfied, GP specifies the zones of dissatisfaction and take necessary actions to remove the dissatisfactions. Total Quality Management A definition of Total Quality Management (TQM) is a broad as well as structured approach for organizational management that works to improve the quality of products and services by means of ongoing refinements in reaction to constant feedback. JIT and Kaizen both are known as methods of TQM. TQM requirements might be defined separately for a certain organization or might be according to conventional standards, like the International Organization for Standardizations ISO 9000 series. Different from the traditional management style, decisions in total quality management are made completely on facts and figures; thus, problems are identified properly (Cook 2008 p10). Traditional management still focuses on quality but does not put their best into the products as TQM does; hence, the quality of the products in a traditional management styles will inevitably be less than of a TQM. Benefit In Organization How Total Quality Management applies to this organization is by providing quality products and teamwork. Through quality, the company provides a high level of service to its internal and external customers. The company ensures that products are safe, pure, effective, and manufacturing processes are subject to strict Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Furthermore, the company has to ensure that quality assurance group (QA) runs all drug products through various stages of the quality control process during production – from the laboratory analysis of the base material as well as tests throughout each individual production stage till the final checks are taken . By following GMP guidelines and ensuring QA doing its task, this will not only help the company to provide quality products to patients, but will protect patients from harm as well. (Melnyk & Fredendall, 2004 p12). Quality measurement such as customer satisfaction, defect rates cost of rework, base material as well as tests throughout each individual production stage till the final checks are taken. For example FedEx developed service Quality measurement Index (SQI) which encompass indicators, the company determined, are the most important for customer satisfaction. FedEx SQI tells employees each and every day precisely how they are doing on customer satisfaction as well as service quality - a clear vigorous participation in the quality improvement by all employees. Due to this Once Again FedEx won a Baldrige Award winner. Conclusion Customer Care, Kaizen, Just-in-Time and Total Quality Management all four concepts are of great importance to the organizations of today. These concepts have different backgrounds but their function is the same that is to uphold quality within the organization. Thus it can be said that these concepts are more or less the same, and that each have an equally important place in an organization. If al four concepts are successfully used in an organization it can turn that organization into a world wide success. References Baljko, L. (1999) TI roots JIT system in efficient info flow. Electronic Buyers News, 6 (68), p. 60. Cole, K, 2001, " Supervision, the theory and practice of first-line management" 2nd Edition, NSW, Person Education Australia. p 56 Cook Sarah 2008; Customer Care Excellence How to Create an Effective Customer Focus 5th edition. Kogan Page Ltd p 10 Epps, R. (1995). Just-in-time inventory management: Implementation of a successful program. Review of Business, 17 (1), p. 40-45 Helms, M., Dileepan, P. (2005) Transportation Issues for Supply Chain Management. Business Forum, 27, No.1, pp.8-13 Kochan, A. (1997) Ford - Valencia: just in time and just on site. Assembly Automation, 17 (1), p. 6 Long, D. (2003), International Logistics: Global Supply Chain Management. Norwell (Mass.): Kluwer Academic Publishers . Melnyk & Fredendall, (2004). Total quality management: Frameworks, measures, and standards. The McGraw-Hill Companies p 12 Proffitt, M. (1995) Extending the supply chain to Europe via multi-modal distribution. Logistics Information Management, 8, No.6, pp 20-24 Read More