The Essay On Total Quality Management And High Performance Work In Manufacturing And Service Sectors.

Introduction to Internal and External Business Environment

Question:

Explores the effectiveness and usefulness ofTotal Quality management and The High Performance Work Organisation in both manufacturing as well as service sector.

Any business organisation operates under two business environments; internal and external. Where thefactors of the internal business environment is under the control of the organisation, the external environment factors such as political aspect, societal aspect, technological upgrade as well as the economic conditions of the country of operation are not under the control of the organisation (Skogland and Hansen2017). Therefore, to keep up and maintain the position in the market business organisations need to evolve and change. Changes in the organisation face resistance from the people who are associated with the company because the future anticipation and the change of the comfort can be reasons for resistance. Change management depends on the efficiency of the management of the organisation. Employees and staff members should be motivated and encouraged to accept changes, not only that the company should employee policies and regulations so that the change is easily adaptable (Skogland and Hansen2017). For example: if an organisation has though of upgrading the technology they have been using to keep up with the heavy manufacturing process, the employees who work in the factories have to taught the new technology in order to help them adapt to the new process easily. This essay explores the effectiveness and usefulness ofTotal Quality management and The High Performance Work Organisation in both manufacturing as well as service sector.

Total quality management or TQM is one of the most popular change tools to be implemented by an organisation to improve the quality of the product or service that the company is offering its target market (Sachdeva 2015). Product or service quality is important as that determines the future position of the company in the market. TQM is an approach taken by the management of the organisation to not only meet but also to positively exceed the expectations of the customers. This is a consumer centric approach as the importance is given to the utility and requirement of the consumers which in turn results in sales and profit maximization. For organisation that have “building valuable relationship with the customers” as one of the major objectives, TQM prove to be an approach that is reliable (Sachdeva 2015). The process concentrates on the internal environment of the company so that the quality of the output that is derives matches up to the expectation of the customers. TQM is not a quick fix to an issue it is a long term process and the outcome of the results show after a prolonged usage of the principles of the approach. At the initial phase of the implementation of the process it may seem to be a waste of time, money and effort but if the process is strategized and implemented in a planned and organized manner it results in stark difference. Implementation of TQM is a continuous process to improve the operation of the business in order to incorporate new information and knowledge there are gathered over the years (Sachdeva 2015). Here are some principles that make the fundamentals of this process:

Total Quality Management and Its Significance

The process is consumer-centric and focuses on the needs and the requirements of the consumers; the quality of the product is based on the requirements of the customers of the business and the organisation should strive to achieve improved quality. The customers are also responsible for examining the worth of the quality. The approach is initiated form the executive managerial level, the management is responsible for implementing the changes and ensuring that the work environment is such that the initiative is successful (Luís and Major 2016).

TQM requires all the employees to be equally involved in the process of improvement, this can be achieved with the help of the management and policies to help the employees adapt to the changes and ensuring that the work environment is such that people can strive towards excellence and high-performance. TQM is an integrated process and involves improvement in every aspect of the business operation. In not only includes all the vertical operations of the business it also incorporates the improvement of the horizontal functions.Another most important aspect of this approach is that it is a continuous process and involves a long term investment to identify any changes in the outcome. There are set methodologies and tools which can be implemented by the organisation based on the requirement and the scale of business in order to achieve maximum output(Luís and Major 2016).

The high performance work organisation can be called as a scientifically designed conceptual framework that is developed to ensure that the best performance is delivered by the people of the organisation. This framework helps the management of the organisation in deciding and identifying the barriers which is keeping the people from achieving high efficiency in the performance. The success or failure of an organisation is directly impacted by the performance level of the employees. Specialization and standardization play an important role in the framework, to maximize the level of performance and productivity. An organisation that has implemented the principles of high performance workplace concentrates on human resource and their impact on the proceedings of the business (André and Heijtel2017).Some of the important features of this approach are:  flat hierarchical organisational structure which ensures the involvement of lower-level employees in decision-making, multi-tasking as well as specializing, responsible and motivated teams as well as individual workers. As the approach is Human resource centric the organisation invests in the supports of learning and developing skills and expertise. Technical, creativeas well as communication and social skills are paid attention in the process of learning and development, this approach provides opportunities for the employees of the organisation to grow and expand their career as well. The approach promotes and encourages healthy interpersonal relationship among the workers as well as in between the management and the staff members of the organisation so that grievances and issues of the people which is the greatest hindrance to high performance areresolved. The outcome of this approach is that the performance of the employee ensures the output of the organisation is of improved form. As innovation plays an important part of the approach it ensures that the process will include procedures that is new and of improved quality(Aakanksha 2014).

Fundamentals of Total Quality Management

Business organisations provide either product or services to the target market in order to earn revenue and keep the cash flowing in the business. An organisation that operates in the product industry manufactures the product in order to make it available for the customers for example any electronic or FMCG products, on the other hand the business enterprises that operate in the service industry like tourism and health care provide the consumers with services in exchange for money. Similarities between manufacturing and service operations are: achieving valuable relation with the consumers, a process of inputs and outputs are involved in a business enterprise weather it is service or goods operations. Use of technology is also a common aspect of the operations, structure of the upper level management remains the same.

Some of the differences on the operation are: the approach is different; service industry is more associated with the people whereas product industry is based on the product itself; one of the most obvious differences is the tangible aspect of the output. Customization vs. Standardization is another point of difference, a product is manufactured in the factory in bulk and those are send to be sold to the customers, the products from a company are standardized and similar and cannot be changed according to the preference of each customer, where as the services are customizable in nature for example: the service of a doctor depends on the ailment and the intensity of the issue.

Application of TQM in the manufacturing industryincludes understanding of the requirement o the customers and then manipulating the existing product as per the expectation of the customers. As the product is the center of focus of the image of the company and the reputation in the market TQM implementation helps in further improving the goodwill by ensuring to provide the customers with best quality at the most reasonable price. Companies can employee quality managers and quality checkers before sending a batch to the market some of the tools that a manufacturing company can employee are lean production, six sigma, learning and development programs etc (Mohammad Mosadeghrad 2014). The main advantage of implementation of this process is that it brings out the shortcomings in the product and the manufacturing process, if that is eliminated the company can strive to achieve an edge over the competitors. The most important drawback of the approach is that it will not fix any issue immediately hence if the company is facing a specific trouble then the management cannot think of implementing TQM and solving it, it is a long term process(Mohammad Mosadeghrad 2014).

The High Performance Work Organisation and Its Features

In the service industry application of TQM is different from that of an organisation that is involved in the manufacturing industry. The implementation of this approach and its effect depend mostly on the capabilities of top management of the companyit is impacted by how the managers adopt and adapt its principles and guidelines in the services that are offered to the customers. According to Ali (2013), some of the common obstacles of TQM implementation in the service sectors are: the disparities in between the management and the interest of the employees, deficiency of a quality-oriented work environment and work culture, insufficient training, and lack of proper resources etc. The advantage of implementing TQM is same as of the manufacturing sector: improved consumer satisfaction, increased consumer loyalty etc.(Al Nahyan and Abdel All 2017).

Implementation of the high performance work organisation in the manufacturing sector involves focusing on the productivity of the employees, the approach does not only concentrate on the level of productivity it judges the performance of the employee on the basis of production and quality. The human resource department of the organisation plays an important part in this approach, as the performance of the employees is managed and is kept record of by the HRD. In manufacturing units technology play an important role hence the company must ensure that the people are well versed with the technology that is being used so that they can improve their efficiency. In order to support the performance of the employees the management have to react quickly to the changes in the business environment (Jeevan and Rani 2017). Material requirement planning, supply chain management etc are some of the tools that the company can employee. The high performance organisation framework can be implemented to recognizeandanalyze the aspects of the companywhich need to be worked upon in order to become a HPO.  The shortcoming of this process is that it depends not only on the employees but also on the management, if the quality of the management is not up to the mark the process may not be successful (André and Goedegebuure 2017).

In the service sector, the performance of the people associated with the company is the most important aspect. For example: the efficiency and the work of the beauticians of a beauty parlor are the most important to ensure loyal customers, goodwill and reputation and in turn consistent flow of revenue. According to André (2017), Learning and skill development are the most important aspect of this approach especially for the service sector. Motivation and encouragement from the management play an important role in the process of attaining high level of performance by the staff members. The major advantage of this approach is that it ensures career development opportunities for the employees (André 2017).

It can be concluded from the above discussion that both TQM and The high performance work organisation are process which can be implemented in both the manufacturing and service sectors. Change in an organisation is important to ensure that the company is in sync with the changing factors of the external business environment. It has been identified that both the process is not a tool that can solve an issue quickly rather both a long term procedures and implementation of which will ensure good reputation, competitive advantage, customer satisfaction, employee retention etc. TQM is a more complex process that High performance work organisation as TQM is a holistic approach and HPO is a process that focuses on the people associated with the organisation.

Reference list:

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Mohammad Mosadeghrad, Ali. "Essentials of Total Quality Management: A Meta-Analysis." International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance 27, no. 6 (2014): 544-58.

Pimentel, Luís and Maria Major. "Key Success Factors for Quality Management Implementation: Evidence from the Public Sector." Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 27, no. 9-10 (Sep, 2016): 997-1012. 

Sachdeva, Geeta. "Total Quality Management and Business Excellence." International Journal of Management Prudence 7, no. 1 (2015). 

Skogland, Mari Anna Chatarina and GeirKarsten Hansen. "Change Your Space, Change Your Culture: Exploring Spatial Change Management Strategies." Journal of Corporate Real Estate 19, no. 2 (2017): 95-110.