Management Profession And Quality Management In Samsung Essay. (61 Characters)

Developments in the Management Profession

Question:

Discuss about the Quality Management: Failure of Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

Management refers to activities and actions pertaining to administration of specific organizational functions. It entails coordination and organization of work-related activities with a view of achieving desired goals or objectives (Bladen & Kennell, 2014). The management profession requires individuals with intensive academic grounding, specialized skills and competencies related to influencing productivity and performance within organizational settings (Ionut, Aurica, & Virginia, 2012). The profession has experienced several developments in the recent past. Veljkovic & Kalicanin (2016) explain that new developments in management profession are attributed to growth of businesses, increase in business rivalry, changes in technology and separation of the executive roles within organizations. Kumar, Khurshid & Waddell (2014) reveal that demand for highly skilled and competent managers in Australia is increasing. Notably, the tasks, roles and obligations of managers are now specialized. Ronnie (2016) demonstrates that present day organizations require their operations and business activities to be managed professionally. Therefore, management professionals need to apply specialized knowledge to drive their organizations towards competitive advantage in target markets.

Veljkovic & Kalicanin (2016) assert that formal training is the main characteristic of the management profession. Lobo, Matawie & Samaranayake (2012) reveal that more institutes for training managers are being set up in Australia to meet the increasing demand for management education. The management profession is also characterized by changes in the obligations of managers. For example, managers no longer serve organizations alone. They are also expected to serve the interests of the society (Wright et al., 2016). Ronnie (2016) explains that the actions of managers are influenced by specific social values, norms and standards. For example, managers of today are expected to align their practices with social standards and values related to quality, safety, fair pricing and environmental sustainability (Harrington, Short & Hynes, 2015). Managers are also mandated to align their practices with regulations and rules provided in their professional codes of conduct. For instance, the Australian Institute of Management requires managers to adhere to specific ethical standards, such as integrity and honesty (Ebrahimi, Wei, & Rad, 2015). Harrington, Short & Hynes (2015) explain that the obligations of managers of today are attributed to the changing values of contemporary business organizations. Ionut et al. (2012) illustrate that contemporary organizations expect their managers to pursue both financial interests and the ethical obligations of running responsible or sustainable business operations.

Ronnie (2016) reveals that all power belonged to managers of industrial-age organizations. Managers governed their subordinates through controlling, planning, organizing and commanding. Harrington, Short & Hynes (2015) add that the formal hierarchies of industrial-age organizations impacted negatively on the participation of subordinates in decision making processes. However, changes in organizational cultures and legal frameworks related to employee rights have changed views on the management profession (Wright et al., 2016). Ionut et al. (2012) demonstrate that effective managers in today’s organizations are viewed as people who are able to build effective relationships with all stakeholders, including employees and business partners. Therefore, managers of modern organizations are viewed as people who are less controlling and more accommodating.

Specialized Skills in the Management Profession

Ronnie (2016) asserts that modern managers should have a good understanding of technology. Veljkovic & Kalicanin (2016) illustrate that managers of contemporary organizations should embrace technological innovations because they support almost all managerial and organizational functions. Notably, the profession of management is being influenced by the increasing automation of contemporary organizations. For example, many organizations across Australia have automated their management functions, training programs and knowledge management systems because technology is the prerequisite to business performance and competitive advantage (Lobo, Matawie & Samaranayake, 2012). Therefore, management practice in contemporary organizations is defined by the alignment of managers’ competencies with the changing technological, social, economic and political environments.

Quality management refers to actions which guarantee that a product or service is reliable or aligned with the expectations of customers (Bladen & Kennell, 2014). Paraschivescu (2016) describes quality management as an administrative practice which ensures that products exhibit desirable qualities, such as safety, availability, durability, performance and maintainability. Weiss (2016) reveals that the recall of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was attributed to problems in quality management. The smartphones were recalled in September 2016 due to reports from customers that they exploded during charging (Carpenter, 2016). This problem was attributed to design problems and failures in manufacturing processes (Weiss, 2016). Cwiklicki (2016) asserts that quality management entails planning, improving and controlling product design and production processes with a goal of maximizing the quality of a product. Therefore, failures in the design and production of Galaxy 7 note can be linked to problems in quality management processes within Samsung.

The problem of quality management in design and manufacturing processes at Samsung is worthy studying because it impacts negatively on customer satisfaction and loyalty to the company’s smartphone brands (Carpenter, 2016). Studying the problem will provide in-depth insight on specific quality management challenges facing Samsung. The project will also provide useful lessons on improving quality management in the design and production of smartphones to enable companies in the mobile phone industry prevent future recalls. The noted problem is relevant to the management profession because of its implications on managerial functions, such as monitoring performance and controlling processes for performance and quality improvement (Wright et al., 2016). Design and production failures at Samsung are also related the management philosophy of integration of organizational functions in pursuit of shared objectives (Paraschivescu, 2016). Therefore, principles of management are applicable in addressing the problems in Samsung’s design and manufacturing functions that led to the recall of its Galaxy Note 7.

The aim of the proposed research project is to analyze quality management issues that led to the recall of Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The objectives of the project are highlighted below.

1. To assess quality management problems in the design and production of smartphones at Samsung.
2. To develop evidence-based solutions for mitigating quality management problems that may contribute to future recalls of smartphone brands.

Lobo, Matawie, & Samaranayake (2012) argues that manufactures should benchmark their product quality strategies against best quality management cases. The argument of the authors was informed by credible evident from surveys on quality management competencies among Australian manufactures. Notably, researchers agree that quality improvement programs in manufacturing should be aligned with the ISO 9000 quality management framework (Kumar at al., 2014). Notably, surveys on quality management in manufacturing are limited by small sample sizes. However, evidence-based conceptual frameworks on quality management within current research literature are consistent with the Total Quality Management Framework (TQF) (Chaudary, Zafar & Salman, 2015). Assarlind & Gremyr (2014) applied the TQF to identify critical factors that influence the quality of products from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The researchers reveal that employee training, management involvement and fact-based follow-ups influence the quality of products among SMEs. The reviewed literature provides managers with reliable insights on factors to monitor in ensuring that design and manufacturing processes are aligned with both industry and international quality standards (Kober, Subraamanniam & Watson, 2012). However, there are notable gaps in literature on the specific design and manufacturing problems that contribute to product recalls.

Changing Obligations of Managers

According to Paraschivescu (2016), quality and risk management functions should be integrated because they influence decisions pertaining to the quality of product designs. Scott, Xianghui & Prybutok (2015) illustrate that the quality of cell phones depends on the ability of managers, designers and manufacturers to assess and address problems which contribute to quality problems. Nonetheless, researchers fail to elucidate on specific design problems that contribute to quality failures in the electronics industry. Notably, conclusions in reviewed articles are plausible because they were based on critical analysis of complex relationships between quality management, cell phone software quality, device quality and consumer perceptions (Leavengood, Anderson & Daim, 2014). Mellat-Parast (2014) argues that quality management should be congruent with the principles of quality citizenship. However, there are gaps in research literature on relationships between quality citizenship and quality management. Regardless of this challenge, the reviewed literature indicates that quality problems are prevented when product design and manufacturing processes are aligned with the needs of target consumers. There are notable methodological challenges in the reviewed literature related to the choice of research designs and data analysis methods. However, current research literature is useful in determining how Samsung can overcome the product design and manufacturing failure which contributed to the recall of its Galaxy Note 7 phones.

The proposed research project will be based on secondary research. Research data will be collected from credible digital databases. Data collection process will specifically target Business Source Complete or EBSCOhost Research Databases. Inclusion criteria for secondary sources will incorporate peer-reviewed journals, trade publications and business reports. In addition, only articles published within the last 5 years will be used in the research. Therefore exclusion criteria in the search will be articles published before 2012. The Boolean Search strategy will be used in data collection to ensure that the secondary sources used in the project are aligned with the research topic. Specific key terms will be used to ensure that the research accurately addresses the objectives of the project. The secondary data will be analyzed and interpreted using qualitative methods, such as categorizing into themes, coding and tabulating. The research project is expected to take a period of 8 weeks. 

References

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Bladen, C., & Kennell, J. (2014). Educating the 21st century event management graduate: Pedagogy, practice, professionalism, and professionalization. Event Management, 18(1), 5-14. doi:10.3727/152599514X13883555341724

Carpenter, S. (2016). Government Issues Official Recall Of Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Forbes.Com, 9.

Chaudary, S., Zafar, S., & Salman, M. (2015). Does total quality management still shine? Re-examining the total quality management effect on financial performance. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 26(7/8), 811-824. doi:10.1080/14783363.2014.895521

Cwiklicki, M. (2016). Understanding management concepts through development of their tool box: The case of total quality management. Our Economy, 62(1), 56-62. doi:10.1515/ngoe-2016-0006

Ebrahimi, Z. F., Wei, C. C., & Rad, R. H. (2015). The impact of the conceptual total quality management model on role stressors. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 26(7/8), 762-777. doi:10.1080/14783363.2014.884302

Harrington, D., Short, J. C., & Hynes, B. (2015). Changing times for management educators: Rethinking engagement with participatory forms of knowledge production. Irish Journal Of Management, 34(1), 51-59. doi:10.1515/ijm-2015-0006

Ionut, A., Aurica, B., & Virginia, t. (2012). The Improvement of Human Resources Management through the Development of Best Practices. Ovidius University Annals, Series Economic Sciences, 12(2), 599-602.

Kober, R., Subraamanniam, T., & Watson, J. (2012). The impact of total quality management adoption on small and medium enterprises' financial performance. Accounting & Finance, 52(2), 421-438. doi:10.1111/j.1467-629X.2011.00402.x

Kumar, M., Khurshid, K. K., & Waddell, D. (2014). Status of Quality Management practices in manufacturing SMEs: a comparative study between Australia and the UK. International Journal Of Production Research, 52(21), 6482-6495. doi:10.1080/00207543.2014.948574

Leavengood, S., Anderson, T. R., & Daim, T. U. (2014). Exploring linkage of quality management to innovation. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 25(9/10), 1126-1140. doi:10.1080/14783363.2012.738492

Lobo, S. R., Matawie, K. M., & Samaranayake, P. (2012). Assessment and improvement of quality management capabilities for manufacturing industries in Australia. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 23(1), 103-121. doi:10.1080/14783363.2011.639561

Mellat-Parast, M. (2014). Linking quality citizenship to process design: a quality management perspective. International Journal Of Production Research, 52(18), 5484-5501. doi:10.1080/00207543.2014.916043

Paraschivescu, A. O. (2016). Risk management and quality management: An integrate approach. Economy Transdisciplinarity Cognition, 19(1), 55-61.

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Scott, R. A., Xianghui, P., & Prybutok, V. R. (2015). Contribution of product and provider quality to cell phone industry quality. Quality Management Journal, 22(2), 33-47.

Veljkovic, S., & Kalicanin, D. (2016). Improving business performance through brand management practice. Economic Annals, 61(208), 137-167. doi:10.2298/EKA1608137V

Weiss, T. R. (2016). Official Recall of Samsung Galaxy Note7 Phones in the Works. Eweek, 1.

Wright, A. L., Zammuto, R. F., Liesch, P. W., Middleton, S., Hibbert, P., Burke, J., & Brazil, V. (2016). Evidence-based management in practice: opening up the decision process, decision-maker and context. British Journal Of Management, 27(1), 161-178. doi:10.1111/1467-8551.12123

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