Abstract.
Total Quality Management is a very important aspect of management in any organization be it governmental, non-governmental, manufacturing or service providing company. This research paper seeks to analyze three organizations, that is, manufacturing, service providing and non-profit organization which will be representing three different sectors of the economy and identify the need for quality which is focused on total satisfaction of the consumer needs. A matrix analyzing the differences between the role of TQM in these organizations is also provided. All these three organizations/sectors have been found to posses different values in terms of quality goods or services for customer satisfaction and in their respective implementation strategies for the TQM approach depending on their customers’ needs and the leadership skills employed in the organization.;;;;;;;; Total Quality Management Survey. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach which refers to a combination of all the management practices employed in an organization to enable the smooth running of all its activities and to ensure that all its customer’s needs and expectations are addressed. Its main focus is focused on ensuring continuous improvement in all aspects of management which involves the organization’s culture, attitude and the overall outlook of the company. TQM approach was invented back in the early1950s but it became more popular in the1980s (Kotler, 2000).
For this approach to be effective, eight factors have to be put into consideration. This factors include ethics, trust, management training, teamwork among the employees, recognition, integrity, proper leadership style and effective communication skills. TQM helps an organization to meets the required quality standards for customer satisfaction. It consists of quality in terms of returns in order to satisfy the company’s shareholders as well as the quality in the goods and services provided in order to satisfy the customers. TQM management approach is applicable to any organization in all sectors of the economy. Objective. This research paper will mainly discuss the application of TQM in the manufacturing, non-profit and service providing organizations and also outline the differences in strategic of TQM in each of these sectors as well as the role of leadership in providing quality goods and services within all the stated organizations.
Manufacturing industry. The manufacturing sector comprises of companies whose main practices involve the conversion of raw materials into useful products. Quality products are paramount for high customer satisfaction. For instance, in the U. S, the automotive industry is one of the the biggest manufacturing industries.
This industry involves the sales of cars, trucks, motorcycles and so forth. Sales from these particular sector have been found to earn over 190 billion dollars in terms of GDP per year. The major domestic automotive manufacturers in this sector include General motors, Daimler-Chrysler and Ford manufacturing companies. In the recent past, the domestic manufacturers have in a way been over taken by the Japanese manufacturers, a good example being the Honda automotive manufacturing company, due to their narrow concentration on sporty vehicles and trucks. For this reason, many customers who previously belonged to the domestic manufacturers are now preferring to buy their cars from Japan due to their higher quality and friendly prices. These is as a result of increased innovations which help to increase the value of quality in order to achieve their top priority which is customer satisfaction.
Honda manufacturing company ensures customer satisfaction through ensuring that their products are of highest quality, reasonable cost, proper delivery systems, product development and effective management. Non-profit organizations. TQM has been a major source of improvement in quality for many non-profit organizations especially in the U. S. In the 20th century, there has been a major emphasis on the quality of products and services offered by these organizations in order to attract and maintain their customers.
For instance, libraries are non-profit making organizations because their services are offered at no cost. There are various ways in which a library can enhance their services in order to increase the customer satisfaction. This includes creation of information brochures stating the available services, changing their operating hours to be more flexible, offer faster services, improve the overall outlook of the library, advertise their services thoroughly, offer a suggestion box and closely address their customer’s complaints and so on. Many libraries in the U. S have already implemented TQM and the management approach has proved to be very effective. Examples of such libraries include the Harvard College Library and libraries of Oregon State Univ.
Service providing organizations. Many service providing companies are important in all areas of life. One example of such a company in U.
S is the IBM involved in the provision of telecommunication service. Considering the rapid evolution of the information and communication technology, service providers in this field must learn ways of staying afloat in this highly competitive industry through provision of high quality services in order to attract and maintain their customers. The IBM for example, has successfully achieved customer satisfaction through the introduction of the IBM service provider delivery environment which is a flexible architectural system which allows the integration of new web-based products without the interruption of the already existing services (Claude, 1999). This has led to an improved value in service quality in order to satisfy the customer’s needs and overcome the market competition. A Matrix outlining the outlines the differences between the strategic role of TQM within each organizations.
OrganizationManufacturingServiceNon-profitManufacturing1. There are no money incentives in service organizations. 2. No reward in service organizations. 1. TQM, is not given much consideration in non-profit organizations. 2.
Bench marking is highly considered in manufacturing industries but not in non-profit organizations. ServiceImplementation of TQM is easy in manufacturing industries. Bench marking is focused towards individuals who are aspiring to evaluate their public services. Non-profit organization. The market competition is higher in manufacturing industries which makes innovation very important. Benchmarking in non-profit organizations is mostly targeted towards managers of big organizations.
Importance of Leadership in organizations as it relates to quality. As mentioned above, TQM is a very effective strategy for proper overall management and quality improvement in any organization. However, its implementation and sustainability is quite difficult due to various factors (Burrill, 1999). The management of an organization has been found to be one of the major factors which hinder proper TQM implementation. This results from poor leadership and lack of commitment to the strategy implementation. If the leader lacks the necessary commitment, the junior workers who look up to him will not be obliged to support the strategy implementation. In addition, leadership instability in an organization will definitely affect the quality of the goods produced or the services provided by the given organization. It is also upon the leaders of various organization to set the standard limits which they want their companies to achieve in terms of product or service quality.
The role of the leader in this TQM strategy implementation is to make sure that all the employees are well acquitted on the quality standards set by the organization and to provide the necessary training tools to enlighten the workers on ways in which they can improve their products or services to reach higher qualities. References. Burrill, W. ( 1999).
Achieving quality through continual improvement. Washington, D. C. : Willey Publishers. Kotler, P. (2000).
Marketing Management. USA: Prentice Hall.
