UNIT-1 Introduction to quality management PRESENTED BY N.VIGNESHWARI

Today’s topic Benefits, awareness and obstacles of TQM

Benefits of TQM Better employee retentions Improved operational performance Greater customer satisfaction Increased financial performance

Better employee retentions One of the most important features in implementing a successful TQM system is attaining a highly involved and motivated workforce. Leading companies are using several key indicators to measure the extent to which their focus on quality leads to improvement in employee job satisfaction, attitudes, and behavior. These key indicators include employee satisfaction, employee attendance, employee turnover, safety and health, and number of suggestions made to improve quality and / or lower costs.

Improved operational performance Organizations operational performance indicators measure the quality and cost of their products and services. Leading companies are using their measures to access the impact of quality management on their operations. These measure include reliability, timeliness of delivery, order processing time, production errors, inventory turnover, quality costs and cost savings

Greater customer satisfaction Many leading companies have changed their traditional view that quality involves merely meeting technical specifications. They now recognize that the customer defines quality and that companies must focus on meeting customer needs and expectations. Customer satisfaction is defined in terms of new customer referrals, fewer customer complaints, and high customer retention.

Increased financial performance The impact on a company’s “bottom line” or operating results was measured by several ratios. One important measure used is market share. Companies that build market share on the basis of improved product / service quality and value, believe it is the route to increased profitability. Other measures include productivity and profitability expressed as sales per employee, and sales per a comparable retail store; return on assets; and return on sales

Awareness Status survey Opinion survey

Status survey This would be desirable before conducting the awareness program. The results would form the basis for formulating specific issues and chalking out a road map for follow-up exercises. This could provide the material for a technical session in the awareness program

Opinion survey Frequently a rapid and less taxing opinion survey of all persons of the rank of managers and above in the company would bring – out gut issues and improvement projects of a short-term nature. The results would provide the basis for short-term action plan

Obstacles (or) barriers to TQM implementation Lack of top management commitment and vision Company culture Flavor of the month attitude Department based thinking and actions Poor appreciation of the concepts Lack of structure of TQM activities Deciding how to start Gaining the involvement of non-manufacturing departments Ineffective leadership Ignore external process Fail to understand relationship Difficulty in implementation

Lack of top management commission and vision When the senior officers of the firm / company are not committed TQM cannot be implemented.

Company culture When TQM is to be introduced, it needs adjustments in work practices and culture of the organization. Changing the company culture takes a long time. This can be achieved easily by taking the departments and people into confidence

Flavor of the month attitude TQM is a continuous process. It is making quality improvement a ‘habit’. There is no end-point to it, so TQM should not be considered as the flavor of the month or year, this attitude should change.

Department based thinking and actions TQM implementation plan should cover all the departments. There should be enough communication between departments. Companies should shed their department based thinking style in order to implement TQM effectively.

Poor appreciation of the concepts TQM has been effective in bringing about a good change in many companies. The experiences of the senior managers from these companies can be shared, so that TQM concepts and principles can be appreciated by all. Poor appreciation of the concepts and principles of TQM stands as an impediment in the implementation of TQM

Lack of structure of TQM activities Quality improvement techniques are not generally taught as part of the curriculum-people learn it out of experience. Lack of an organized training program, and not assessing the needs of various individuals and departments are the main obstacles in implementing TQM

Deciding how to start TQM is a continuous process which has no starting point and no end point the only objective is quality improvement, therefore, companies usually waste a lot of time in, “deciding how to start”. This its one of the barriers to TQM implementation

Gaining the involvement of non manufacturing departments TQM is a group activity. It involves changes in work practices and culture of the organization. It is difficult and takes a long time. The best way to overcome this is to anticipate this and take the concerned departments and people into confidence

Ineffective leadership TQM is a group activity. It needs an effective leadership. The team members and leaders have to be adequately trained and given the responsibility to do improvements in their work area. This is also known as empowerment. Ineffective leadership, inadequate empowerment, and lack of trust are barriers to TQM implementation.

Ignore external process The advantages with TQM are that it will require its managers to concentrate immensely on internal processes of the company. But a major drawback is that, if managers concentrate too much on internal processes, the external processes like keeping in touch with shifting perceptions and preferences of customers will be ignored and the company is bound to take beating.

Fail to understand relationship In a lot of cases, managers fail to understand the angles of relationship with suppliers and customers. Mutual trust and support are the keys to success

Difficulty in implementation Quality should be understood in the same spirit and language both by the management and employees, otherwise implementation becomes difficult

Thank you