Assignment on Quality management

1.1 discuss definitions of quality in terms of business and services provision

In term of business and services provision the quality of a product or service refers to the perception of the degree to which the product or service meets the customer's expectations. There is no specific meaning of quality unless it is related to a specific function and/or object. Quality is a perceptual, conditional and somewhat subjective attribute.

         The meanings of quality in term of business have been developed over time. Various interpretations are given below:

      According to American Society for Quality: "A subjective term for which each person has his or her own definition. In technical usage, quality can have two meanings:

      The characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs;

      A product or service free of deficiencies."

      According to Peter Drucker: "Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for."

      According to ISO 9000: "Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements." The standard defines requirement as need or expectation.

      According to Joseph M. Juran: "Fitness for use." Fitness is defined by the customer.

      According to Six Sigma rule : "Number of defects per million opportunities"

1.2 illustrate the processes of inspection and assurance

Different processes are used in inspection and assurance of quality. Some of them are given below:

Quality Planning: It is the process which determines how to satisfy the particular quality standards by identifying the quality standards along with the products and services which produce in the organization. It identifies the policies, standards, product descriptions etc. Then to verify the present quality levels and to discover the gap between the identified quality standards and present situation, it uses benchmarking, cost benefit analysis, flowcharts and design experiment methods .In the final stage it establish quality management plan, checklists and input to other processes.

Quality Assurance: It is the process where regularly overall production performance is evaluated and it also assures the production’s agreement in terms of quality standards. Quality Assurance is the nuts and bolts of successfully running any hotel. Even the most effective and efficient financial manager in the industry will not live up to their true potential if their product quality and services are not seen as a critical foundation of success. For evaluating overall production performance quality planning tools, techniques and quality audits are used.

Quality Control: Here products and services are monitored to determine if they conform to related quality standards and to remove the poor performance of the production method, identifying is the way. After monitoring, to identify poor performance of the production process quality control methods of inspections, pareto diagrams, control charts, flowcharting, statistical sampling, and trend analysis are used. After identification of the problem improvements are done by changing plan, ding rework etc. as quality progress decisions of quality control scheme.

Total Quality Management: Here to maintain the specific quality standards quality improvement programmes are implemented within the organization. In all stages of production process like planning, training, field testing, auditing etc. quality programmes are maintained and among the staffs who are working in the organization.

1.4 explain the similarities and differences between the different methods

There are many similarities among the methods. Every quality scheme is based on particular quality standards of the product or service. Corrective action is taken by both quality control and quality planning schemes to minimize the poor performance. To reach a decision current levels of the organization are evaluated is quality assurance and quality control. Quality is continuously changed in total quality management and quality control.

There are some differences among the methods. Only previously planned quality levels are considered on the quality planning schema. Only the quality assurance level is considered in quality assurance schema. Continuous improvement of performance of quality practice is the main target of quality control schema. TQM applying quality programmes, if usable or non usable as step of the manufacture procedure.

1.3 Individually write an Essay of 250/300 words on “discuss a range of approaches to quality management using two of the following theorists; Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Crosby or Ishikawa;”

According to Deming (1986) quality is anything the customers expect. To plan for the future and anticipate problems to get rid of waste, he encourages managers. Quality must be designed and planned to do this. He advises companies to engage workers in decision-making process. “A partnership in quality” he believes it where the organizations and the public share .In this partnership, to ensure cooperation steps must be taken within the organization, especially in efforts to improve quality total support and promise from top leadership. In addition he give some theories which provide essential guidance and directions to managers  like -Deming‟s “System of Profound Knowledge” including the Deming‟s cycle “Plan – Do – Check – Act (PDCA)” and Deming‟s “14-Points”. These theories focus on producing high quality products and services that the customers desire, these also help the manager to learn how to achieve success by focusing on.

         

                     

Around the practices of quality control, quality planning, and quality improvement Juran (1988, 1989) makes his quality principles. According to him customers must be the focus of quality planning, and this is similar to Deming. Involving top management, project by project planning quality improvement and creating a training program for all employees are the main point of his strategies. He also believes in continuous process development management in producing quality commodities and services, he also emphasizes on the customer-focused organizations, like Deming. He defines quality as,” fitness for use, as opposed to merely meeting specifications.” Quality standards must be set up by managers. To asses cost and effectiveness of the quality improvement program, manager need to provide measurements. For organizations to attain managerial performance, strategic goals and quality leadership, Juran believes that his principles offer practical ideas. He predicts organizations ultimately achieving a new business culture in which quality improvement become element of every manager’s strategy.

2.1 discuss what is meant by customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is defined as the extent to which customers are happy with the products and services provided by a business. An industry which is based on any goods or service, there customer has a fair idea of what they should be receiving for their money. Usually through marketing the advertised promises of the provider, this idea is formed. If customers buy goods and services and that make them feel special, then they are most likely to appreciate the goods and services.  Customer satisfaction occurs when customers fell that products of service they buy are specially made for them or people like them. Using survey techniques and questionnaires levels of customer satisfaction can be measured.

2.2 explain the meaning of continuous improvement

An ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes is known as continuous improvement. "Incremental" improvement over time or "breakthrough" improvement all at once can be sought by these efforts. In the light of their efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility delivery (customer valued) processes are constantly evaluated and improved. A pioneer of the field is W. Edwards Deming; in view of him it is part of the 'system' whereby feedback from the process and customer were evaluated against organisational goals. Continuous improvement also known as Kaizen {the translation of kai (“change”) zen (“good”) is “improvement”}.

2.3 illustrate the type of added values to be gained

There are different types of added values which need to be gained for an organization. They are given below-

·                 Quality Added Value:  Generally it adds convenience, ease of use or other desirable characteristics that are valued by customers.  Enriching food with vitamins and minerals is an example of quality added value.

·                 Environmental Added Value:  Here emphasizes on the protection of environment. For this reason here employs those methods or systems which don’t harm the environment or less harmful than those commonly used. For example: emitting less toxic wastes, using less fuel, using recyclable materials for packaging etc.

·                 Cause-related added value:  It is a social marketing strategy. Here businesses donate some of their revenue to a cause. For example:  A business may contribute to an educational facility for poor children by donating a percentage of revenue from each transaction.

·                 Cultural added value: It is another kind of social marketing strategy. Here for production such methods of systems are used which involve cultural aspects or meet the needs and sensitiveness of cultural groups.  For example: producing Halal food for Muslims by abiding the Muslim’s law.   

2.4 describe the types of information made available to customers and the importance given to effective marketing

When a customer decides to start using a product or service he wants to understand it as much as possible. For this reason company need to provide as much as necessary information to the customers.  Generally customer has keen interest about vision, mission and support of a company when they start to use that company’s products. From these information customers get a general view of a company. Company need to allow users to access to the detail information about each product. Company should present features of each product, which may attract customers to use the products. This will contribute effectively to the marketing strategy of the company. If any precaution need when using a product, then company must provide that information to the customer. A company may let their users to report about the weakness of their product, which will help a company to make proper decision about their product. The more information customers know about a product, the more they will pay attention for it. This strategy may be called- the purchasing psychology of customers. If any change is done in any product, company must provide this information about the changes to their customer. This may satisfy the customer, because company shows that they respect and care about their users. When customers use a product for a long term, they want to see how this product will be improved by the company.  If quality increases, then sell will also increase.

3.1 explain how quality management can be measured

There are different ways to measure quality management. By some measurements we can find out that the products or services are not in a best quality. For example- we can count the number of worn goods; for produce goods reworks is done; for specific production need additional material or inventory which are generally not be used, for sold goods service done because they need warranty repairs; for sold goods and services customer complain; for goods and services liability judgement need to make; recalls and corrective actions need to take for products. By assessing the customer’s feedback and their requirements a company may judge their quality management – whether they meet the customer’s requirements or not. Another good way of judging own quality management is benchmarking. In this process one company compare their own quality management with those who are best in this field. A company may measure their quality management system with the help of the ISO 9000 family of standards; because they are designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders.   

3.2 evaluate the benefit of user and non-user surveys in determining customer needs  M3

It is important for all company to understand the customer needs firstly. Many procedures are used to understand the customer needs, but among them survey is the most popular procedure. It is important for a business that what kind of survey they will use; and who they choose for it- users or non-users?

Most of time a business organization use user base survey. This survey helps to find the organization of their actual strengths and weaknesses. By asking relevant and proper questions a business organization may get proper feedback from their users about the demand and needs of their products. They also find the satisfaction level of the users about their product by this survey. Non-users survey is also very useful for an organization although it can be unusual in marketing research. By this survey company come to know why these people don’t use their products or services besides they come to know- what they want form the company; what measures will be taken to satisfy them, what are the certain criteria where their competitors are better than the company, etc.  Although using both type of survey need much administrative efforts and time, both are really important to determine customer’s needs. User survey helps a company to find out whether they are doing good or bad in business. Other hand non-user survey helps to find out what they are hasn’t meet customer needs?  If a company get proper response from user and non-user, it will help them to determine customer’s needs conveniently.

3.3 list the methods of consultation employed in one quality scheme to encourage participation by underrepresented groups

Several methods can be used for encouraging participation of under-represented groups. Some of them are given below:

·        Form surveys: A form should be designed to get quick reply from under-represented groups as well as should be help to identify the nature of the replies and under-represented groups should be encouraged to participate in this survey. Their expectations, requirements and problems can be revealed by analyzing these forms.

·        Telephone surveys: expectations, requirements and problems of under-represented groups can be measured by telephone survey and it is an effective tool.

·         Interviews: A person may be selected from the under-represented groups randomly for interview.

·        Group interviews: Another effective way of consultation with under-represented groups is group interviews or group discussions which help to analyse the situation.

·        Mail surveys: Some people may be selected from the under-represented groups and to get their response pre-paid envelops can be sent with a set of questions requiring short answers.

·        Electronic surveys: This method is like to the mail surveys, here e-mail is used to sent the questionnaires.

3.4 identify the value of complaints procedures and analyse how they may be used to improve quality

To satisfy customers their product or service organizations apply some or other complaints procedures. This also provides them chance to identify about the faults of product or service. Weakness point of a product or service is identified by customers. An organization can identify their product’s low quality point when the rate of complaints recorded against a particular product or a service. For planning and employing quality management practices these data can be used. A company can improve their quality after identifying the faults or low points of product or service. Sometimes customers may complain against staffs who provide service to them, and then company may improve employees’ quality by proper training.

4.1 report on the role of self assessment in order to determine an organisation’s current ‘state of health’ D1

Self assessment plays a vital role in the success of an organization and it also important for it to understand its ‘state of health’ to find out whether its business operate well or not. An organization should employ different activities to reach its objectives. An organization may make its assessment report to find out its activities are performing well. According to the best knowledge and experiences of members of an organization systems need to be designed and decided. A company cannot be confident without they verify their processes are effective. Against the objective the assessment need to be done to determine the extent of the achievement. Benchmarking may use to find out organization’s own strength, weakness and needed improvement with comparing with others. Internal assessment may be done by providing questionnaires of different categories to employees. To keep the improvement in the track this assessment should be done quarterly.

4.2 evaluate the importance of communication and record keeping

  For an organization communication is very important because it is an integral part of quality management system. For quality management, an organization needs to communicate within it and outside of it. Apathy among the all member of an organization may be avoided by proper communication. Proper communication within organization also provides new ideas to develop quality practices. The foundation of quality management system relies on the communication with the customer. By communicating with them effectively an organization get the information about their products’ satisfaction level to the customer. To determine the quality of the product and the service this is the key factor.

For almost everything an organization record keeping is an important task. Because proper functioning of an organization depend on it. During both internal and external communication information are recorded which helps in formulating and implementing plans for quality control. By record keeping organization compare the past results and it also used to find out major defects and helping to improve the quality of product or service.

4.3 follow guidelines on the stages of staff consultation necessary for effective implementation of a quality scheme D2

For growth and development of all type of organization, people related with it need to exchange views and ideas by talking with each other, exchange commands and discuss plans.  For any organization’s success communication and consultation with staffs can be considered as the lifeline. It is also vital for implementing any tactical plan together with quality schemes. For appropriate functioning of quality management systems the communication and consultation should be encouraged at all levels. Top management should not hesitate to consult and communicate with a ground level staff, because ground level stuffs are the people who will convert top management’s vision into reality. Top management must always to convince them that they are not ordered, they are part of the organization. By neglected by the top management normal staff may feel apathy, which may greatly affect the quality.

4.4 propose new systems or modifications to existing systems that could improve service quality. D3

To deliver quality to its users, McDonald's need to be managed in an improved way. McDonald's should be concerned with their budget; they must not to spare their projects from being over budgeted. More information needs to be provided and more transparency is required, if they want to attract more contractors, suppliers and distributers around the world. They need to match their investments in products and process to their investment in their people. If McDonald's wants friendlier service it should spend more on hiring. They need to speed up, because no one wants to wait in a drive thru for 10 minutes or sit in an unclean restaurant. They create exceptional service and for this they may encourage their employees. They should properly train their employees for better service. They may create definite incentives to distinguish top performers and fine poor performing franchises. They need to make sure to do again and underpin daily to ensure their employees stay sharp and loyal. ‘People are the true key of success’ McDonald’s needs to remember this and start investing in creating a culture that supports it.

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