In the current business environment, nearly every business field faces stiff competition from other business entities that provide similar goods or services. Globalization has taken such competitiveness to a new level in which multinational organizations invest in several locations in the world. Thus to ensure continued production and consistent revenues, businesses have turned to quality management in order to ascertain revenue and profitability. In this kind of business management strategy, companies have to produce consistently reliable products that meet quality standards of their clients. The first part of the paper introduces the theoretical concepts behind quality management. The second part of the paper examines quality management in various facets such as system design, teaching the staff and stewardship.
Introduction
The term quality management is a multifaceted ideology that carries different meaning across business environments. There is no general accepted definition of quality management however, it is generally agreeable that quality management has a meaning pertaining to four basic ideas. These are quality control, quality improvement, quality planning and quality assurance. Summers (2009) asserts that the term quality management is any effort taken by a management to ensure consistence in products or organizational functions. Abrahamson (2004) agrees with the above assertion but insists that quality management is means taken towards achieving issues regarding quality. In the field of system design and technology, the term quality management means that the system underdevelopment should meet specifications and requirements as stipulated by the users. Thus defining quality management from a single point of view might be a distortion and thus each discussion must envisage to have the facet in question well established. This research reviews quality management that addresses quality leadership and the technology manager from the following three particular perspectives. These are systems designer, teacher and steward.
Overview of Quality Management
The idea of quality management is a fairly recent phenomenon. However, the thought of having quality product has been in practice since earliest civilization. Customers tend to choose goods and services that meet their standard or definition of quality. Abrahamson (2004) argues that it is human nature to decide on a product that best suits the needs. Thus craftsmen endeavored to produce goods that satisfy their customers so that the customers would want to use the same craftsman in future. As scholarly business principle the ideas of quality management came to the fold in 1940s and 1950s. A mechanical engineer, Walter Shewhart of the United States navy first introduced the ideas in developing quality munitions and other equipment to be used in the Second World War. Summers (2009) emphasizes that this was the first recorded case of someone in leadership pioneering issues regarding quality management. In his attempt to ensure quality, Shewhart uses statistical methods, and several means of quality controls.
Quality leadership took center of most leadership issues at the national level. Japan was one of the nations to be fully concerned about quality of the products that they produced . Most of japans products were viewed as cheap and of low quality. However, after nationalization of quality management in the 1960s, Japan’s products topped the J.D. Power ratings that apply customer satisfaction index as of 1980 . Several scholars have since delved into quality management and theories and principles behind the same.
Quality Leadership
Quality management is an initiative of the management of a business entity and thus it guided by several principles. Abrahamson (2004) illustrates several principles behind quality management that could guide an organization towards quality of products and services. Some of these include customer focus, process approach, continual improvement, system approach to management and factual approach to decision making process.
However, it is the leadership of the business entity that best defines that nature in which the business will embrace quality management. Scholsra argues that quality management is an aspect of business that involves each person in the organization without regard to position or rank. It is upon the management to lead and inspire the internal environment of the business entity to be one that is conscious about quality management and satisfaction (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004). Leaders of the organization should establish unity of purpose and if such leadership is able to have a unified front among the employees then the organization can make strides towards quality management as an organization objective.
Summers (2009) explains that leadership must be evident in the company senior management. Such leadership must have the ability to exhibit several essential leadership skills. Such skills include integrity and dedication. In terms integrity, a quality leader must have similar and consistent characters both internally and externally. Such a leader must not drift away from the guiding values and principles that he/she instills on the employees. One should be predictable, stable, of well-controlled emotions and with honest dealings.
The senior management must also exhibit dedication to process and measures taken by the organization towards quality management. Showing examples of dedication inspires the rest of the organization towards making similar progress. Good leaders must also learn to involve subordinates during decision making process and that such decisions must be informed relying on available data and information in making such decisions (Leithwood, et al, 2004).
System Designer
In system design, there are many issues regarding quality management that come to the fold. In designing a system for instance a network system or software, quality management is defined as efforts taken to ensure that the system meets system specification and requirements of the users. Leithwood, et al, (2004) argue that systems could entail designing an organization a system unit. In general Abrahamson, (2004) asserts that viewing an organization as system unit is perhaps the beginning of quality management. This is so because a system is collection of different units that work in unity towards defined goals. Separating the organization into several modules helps the management in defining functions of each unit. However, for the purpose of this research, system design under technology issues such as software development shall be reviewed.
Abrahamson (2004), emphasizes that a technology manager can ensure quality in system design in two main facets. First, quality management in system design involves defining standards and procedures that must be followed. And secondly, quality management in system design involves developing a culture of quality that involves everyone in the organization.
However, in system design there is always bound to be conflict between the system designer and the customers. This is due to the fact that it is difficult to merge customer requirements such as efficiency and reliability of the system and the system designers’ quality requirements of maintainability and reusability. In software design for instance, Abrahamson (2004) argues that some quality requirements by customers are usually difficult to express due to lack of knowledge of what they prefer. Essentially, what system designers are left to do is to infer solutions from ideas of what the customers meant.
A system designer therefore has several activities that must be undertaken to ensure that the resulting system meets the required quality. One of the main activities that a system designer could employee is separating the system development team from the quality assurance team. This way, a quality assurance team would have an unbiased perspective of the work done by the development team. A second activity a system designer would be concerned with is establishing procedures and standards that would guide the development team. Ensuring that these procedures and standards are adhered to is the responsibility of the entire development team.
One of the most efficient ways of ensuring that standards are adhered to is by having such standards documented. Documentation of standards provides a tangible point of reference that the system designer and the development team can always refer to. In this documentation, the plan for achieving such quality is usually outlined. In this plan, the quality of the desire product is outlined and the methods of ensuring this quality are outlined for each module or development team.
Finally, it is important for a system designer and the system development team to perform frequent quality reviews. A quality review is the principal method of validating the development process and the product. In this review, a team of quality assurance personnel review the product and the project document in a bid to identify quality issues of the product. There three specific kinds of reviews that can de performed by the system designer. The first review is referred to as design or program inspection. Here the quality assurance team looks to ensure that design or code of the system developed is without errors or bugs. Here, the review team ensures that the system developed works according to stipulated requirements.
The second kind of review is referred to as progress review. In this kind of review, the system designer is concerned about the overall progress of the project. Schedules and timetables are used in this stage to ensure that the project development stage is within the initially stipulated schedule. Any delays must be identified and the plan to mitigate the effect also identified.
The final kind of review is referred to as quality review. In this review, a system designer is concerned with product functionality vis-à-vis the product component documentation. Finding mismatch in the documentation and the product is the aim of this review.
Training the Staff on Quality Management Systems
According to Summers (2009), quality management is a concept that entails the entire members of the organization. The importance of this philosophy comes to the fold when it comes to training the users on the new quality management systems. Summers (2009), defines that training the staff could be divided into three main facets, that is, profound knowledge of the systems, leadership principles and the learning cycle.
Professionals should have profound knowledge about the system functionality, and thus should be able to transfer such knowledge to the employees. Additionally, professionals should make the employees familiar with other factors such as theories of variation. Theories of variation stipulate that professionals should train the employees on identifying factors and interactions that affect quality through measurement and analysis of the available information.
Finally Summers (2009) illustrates a simple cyclic version of how staff would best get into the principle of quality management. In this cyclic plan referred to as the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), the organization should plan for such improvements similar to developing a new quality control system. From such new developments, the organization should implement these changes in small scale. Thirdly, the organization should analyze and interpret effect of these small changes. Learning the impacts of these small changes, then professionals would have a clear view of how to train the staff of these small changes.
Steward
The definition of a steward is similarly diverse. A steward can be an individual who is tasked with managing the property of another person. Other definitions refer to a person who looks after the passengers on board a ship, aircraft or train. In any case, a steward is one who looks after the affairs of others and thus it requires ultimate customer satisfaction. In this sense, quality management is perhaps one of the most important aspects in this kind of business. For instance, in case of a ship, most of the passenger ships are cruise liners that take months with the same passengers on board. Thus a steward has the responsibility of ensuring the customer experience from such a journey is the best.
Quality management in this kind of job is the key concern for most businesses. Most steward operation is defined by standards and procedures as outlined by the business entity that provides the services. In most cases stewards only respond to customer requests and stick to the procedures for responding to such requests. The management should develop documents that guide the delivery services to the customers.
In ensuring quality services to customers, a steward should embrace consistent performance and adhere to direction provided by the management of the company. The management should ensure that services and standards should be customer focused. That is, a steward should understand customer needs, expectations, preferences, and aspirations even before providing any service. Anticipating and meeting such needs ensures customer satisfaction which is the aim of quality management under stewardship.
The management should also provide a means that stewards could keep improving the quality service provisions. According to Summers (2009), quality management in customers care services must continually improve if such services are to meet customer expectations. Constantly reviewing system analysis and introducing new models of customer service increases the chances of customer satisfaction. It also involves education the stewards on the need of self control and working with minimum supervision.
Finally, a steward would best serve customers if such effort is appreciated. Summers (2009) emphasizes that recognition and appreciation of quality work done is hugely important for boosting the morale of the company. Elimination of blame and finger pointing schemes is good strategy towards uniting employees in a single course. Taking collective responsibility builds the team and each person plays a role in providing quality services to the customers.
Conclusion
Quality management is rather new concept in the field of business management. However, in the past few decades, quality management has since taken center stage of all business management methods. Companies cannot afford to overlook the importance of quality management in the long term survival and profitability of the business. Senior management is tasked with the responsibility of guiding and leading a business entity to embrace methods of consistent production of quality goods. In this sense, a system designer has the role of directing and managing activities in developing a quality system. Several activities have to be coordinated to ensure a quality system that is finally presented to the users. A teacher has the responsibility of instilling the character of quality into the students. Finally, stewards have to adopt customer focused ideals in ensuring ultimate customer satisfaction.
References
Abrahamson, E. (2004). Change Without Pain. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Leithwood, K., Louis, S. K., Anderson, S., & Wahlstrom, K. (2004). How leadership Influences Student Learning,. New York: Wallace Foundation.
Summers, D. (2009). Quality management: Creating and sustaining organizational River. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
