Introduction:
Deming’s philosophy origin:
Six Sigma origin:
Role of Leadership:
Mistake proofing:
Establishing customers’ expectations:
Six Sigma:
Kaizen:
Supply Chain mechanism:
References:
Introduction:
The modern times have changed the manner in which businesses and organizations are being operated. This has become so through the enhanced level of awareness amongst the clients and customers attained through the various means of education. With due consideration of the fact that the clients mindset has become more advanced and demanding, for this purpose quality assurance has become imperative. The second factor is the fact that businesses have gone global and there is immense competition between various brands and service provider agencies. Keeping up with the clients’ demands and requests requires top notch performance delivery.
Third factor is the fact that the state of the art technology that is present all around has made it further possible to achieve the maximum outputs from different products and processes hence a universal call for maintaining quality.
History of quality in modern times:
In the modern times we can see the usage and need of quality after the Second World War. Specific guidelines are being followed in this regard towards ensuring the quality. These guidelines and measures come in form of trainings, state of the art technology incorporation, expertise, information technology induction in the organizations, reducing wastes, eliminating overheads, cutting sharp on any kind of inventory that is present in the organizational work stations, enhancing the communication methods and procedures. All these make up for improvement measures that are commonly undertaken by organizations towards developing of quality assurance network and customer satisfaction. Other advanced techniques include Six Sigma, Deming’s philosophy, Kaizen, T.Q.M and many more similar tools and techniques.
Evolution of Six Sigma:
Six Sigma is one of the most prevalent forms of quality assurance and tools. It was introduced and used for the first time in 1986 under the banner of Motorola and since then has been used far and wide in different organizations (Rampersad & El-Homsi, 2007, 41).
Deming’s philosophy:
Deming 14 points were predominantly used after the Second World war on industry level at different organizations (Ho, 1999).
Role of Leadership:
Leaders play an integral role towards the building and maintenance of the organization. Their presence and effective role performance has become ever so important in the modern times where the entire proceedings of the business enterprises are relevant to the clients satisfaction. The leaders hold the entire organization together in multiple ways. They not only enable performance execution but also enable creating policies and actions that would be practically implemented.
The role of a leader is a multifaceted one in the management scope and spectrum. Apart from ensuring the active participation of the members of the team, the leader has to take into account the different circumstances and situations under which respective personnel can be handled and channeled against the given task.
The role of leadership also demands the type of style and participation method being used by the individual. Leader may adopt a policy of authoritarian leadership trait, or he may adopt the pattern of a completely participative type of leader or he may simply adopt the pattern and style of a leissez faire type of leader.
Another prerequisite that is required to be possessed by the leader is that of hands on tools knowledge and expertise, with specialization in the field of technology and other business processes, the leaders are required to have an insight about the different options and factors that are available to the individuals.
A leader should have charismatic personality and at the same time should not be driven by impulses; he should have the ability to handle the situations in an effective regardless of the constraints faced (Canals, 2012, 164).
A good leader has the ability to make the most out of and bring the best out of the situations when the going is tough, he at the same time should have the ability to manage the members, and other resources in a desired manner that would facilitate the requirements and restrictions of the organization.
Senior manager plays the role of a guider and direction provider. They through their expertise and skills enable better performance execution.
Leaders also have to have good communication skills and also make use of the communication channels effectively. This may come in form of the internal communication channels establishment within the organization or outside the organization with the supply chain members and other vendors associated. The presence of good communication abilities and channelizing the communication means define the ability of a leader and his overall aptitude and tendency towards driving the organization in a more collective and successful manner.
Mistake proofing:
In present day business and management processes, the aim of organizations is to work and rely on preventive measures rather than the corrective measures. The time and resources consumed in the corrective measures would entail all the time that would otherwise be spent on the construction and manufacturing of other processes and products. In this case the mistake proofing mechanism is adopted, which entails performing in such a manner that the risks are mitigated and there is no virtual need for correction. Mistake proofing can be done on individual level as well as company level infrastructure and technology incorporation by using specific tools and techniques ((MUKHERJEE, 2006, 356).
Establishing customers’ expectations:
Customers serve as the backbone of the organization and they make or break the organization’s performance metric and evaluation. Ensuring their satisfaction and maintaining their confidence is the key to overall organizational performance and evaluation. This can be done through number of ways, the first being keeping the clients and customers interest in top priority, this accompanied by the top quality products and services manufacturing. Followed by positive response and returns on enquiry. As a whole maintaining a friendly relationship between the organization and clients make up for establishment of the clients’ confidence level. Repetitively providing better services and maintaining a confidence over quality would allow establishing customers trust and good relationship.
Defining metrics:
Clearly defining the quality metrics, processes and personnel training and skills development makes up for metrics determination. This along with the definition of the dos and don’ts and keeping the clients’ interest and concern as top priority makes up for the metric consideration.
Six Sigma:
One of the most frequently used quality tool. Incorporated by Motorola first in 1986. Enacted to attain maximum gains. The aim and basic principle of six sigma is to ensure prevention rather than corrective measure. According to six sigma principle only 3 to 4 defective parts are allowed and present in the system in a total of a million items (Dolgui & Proth, 2010, 229). The value and relationship is shown through a curve. Attaining Six Sigma requires certain factors to be incorporated such as quality consideration, improved working procedures, trainings and guidelines and various other parameters that are the requirements of maintaining standard procedures performance.
Edwards Deming:
Edward Deming is considered as the pioneer of principles of modern day management concepts. His principles were related to the Quality assurance and maintenance within the organization. His postulated his philosophy in form of 14 points that are world renowned and practiced all over for achieving success. Nearly all of his principles advocate the importance of keeping abreast with the clients requirements.
Kaizen:
Kaizen is a quality maintenance and assurance concept that allows maximum output from organizational operations. It is based on lean management with minimum amount of inventory and other stocks control. It provides a holistic overview of the organization’s performance indicators. Not only does it provide guidelines about processes but also about the personnel handling and the role of middle management and top leadership. The roots of this mechanism are engrained in the post world war quality management concepts (Voehl et. al, 2013, 144).
Supply chain considerations and mechanism:
Supply chain processes have become more important in present day with the businesses being performed globally. There are certain considerations to be taken into account for this purpose. These steps include transportation factor. Ensuring that the transport means are intact and are delivered in time makes up for the basic requirement of the organizations effective business operations.
Establishing a stronger vendor base with both hardware and software support is a prerequisite for enacting effective supply chain activities. Similarly providing the personnel who handle the warehouse activities must be sufficiently educated and trained so that they may handle the inventory and other resources properly and do not add any additional material that is of little value to the organization.
References:
Canals, J. (2012). Leadership Development for a Global World: The Role of Companies and Business Schools. Palgrave Macmillan.
Dolgui, A., & Proth, J. -M. (2010). Supply Chain Engineering: Useful Methods and Techniques. Springer.
Ho, S. (1999). Operations and Quality Management. Cengage Learning EMEA.
MUKHERJEE, P. N. (2006). TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Rampersad, H. K., & El-Homsi, A. (2007). TPS-Lean Six Sigma: Linking Human Capital to Lean Six Sigma : a New Blueprint for Creating High Performance Companies. IAP.
Voehl, F., Harrington, H. J., Mignosa, C., & Charron, R. (2013). The Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook: Tools and Methods for Process Acceleration. CRC Press.
