Principles of Management Problems Expert Answer

PART 1

Total Quality management is loosely defined as a phenomenon that strives towards continuously improving and enhancing the quality of goods and services, in order to satisfy customer expectations or even exceed them (Prajogo and McDermott, 2005, Kiella and Golhar, 1997; as cited by Baird, Jia Hu, & Reeve, 2011). In doing so it strives not only to increase quality and customer satisfaction, but also focus on increased communication and evaluation to achieve that. Kumar and Sankaran (2007, p. 177) describe TQM as a culture that “uses teams, promotes pride in workmanship, drives out fear, allows participative management, promotes leadership in place of supervision and promotes long-term orientation among the members of the organization”.

Organizational Culture is both related to and distinct from Total Quality Management as Schein (1985) and Powell (1995) point out that TQM can be reflective of the prevalent culture of an organization, conversely, organizational culture is a more deep rooted idea as it refers to a “pattern of shared and stable beliefs and values that are developed within a company (or business unit) over time”(Gordon and DiTomoso, 1992, as cited by Schein, 1985 and Powell, 1995). In doing so, one may not be similar to the other but can be crucial in the process of amplifying the other.

A paper elaborates that organizational culture is a crucial factor in determining an appropriate environment that can aid in the execution of TQM practices and therefore, it is important that the managers are aware about such an environment and try to incorporate these practices in their culture which can foster the use and success of TQM (Baird, Jia Hu, & Reeve, 2011). In the same paper, testing the correlation of organizational culture on TQM, three areas relevant to organizational culture demonstrated a significant correlation with the use of TQM. This shows us that organizational culture does, to some extent, have a positive impact on Total Quality Management (Baird, Jia Hu, & Reeve, 2011).

There are many important factors that can aid in maintaining quality and increase productivity apart from Total Quality Management. Chapter 16 in the book ‘Management: A practical introduction’ places quite an emphasis on Control and why it is important, and describes it as monitoring performance and taking action where it is required. It emphasizes that controlling needs to be carried out with three other management functions namely planning, organizing and leading to achieve an effective performance. Control is crucial as monitoring can help supervise if quality standards are being met. The chapter also talks about ‘Deming Management’ which emphasizes four ways by which quality could be achieved and its possible benefits. Firstly, that Quality should be reflective of consumer needs, secondly, firms should focus on improving their system instead of putting the blame on employees; thirdly, it highlights possible benefits of quality which are increased market share, company reach and employment; and lastly it highlights a PDCA cycle, aimed at using hard data to increase quality. The first step in the PDCA cycle is Planning, where the firm works on important and desired changes needed based on observed data, the second step is to Do and implement this change. Third is to check or analyze the impact of this change and lastly is to Act on the outcomes and make predictions for future implications (Kinicki, Williams, Scott-Ladd, & Perry, 2011)

Productivity is an important element for the effectiveness of any organization and the chapter highlights some important ways by which to increase or improve them. One way this can be done is Scientific Management as pioneered by Frederick Winslow Taylor, which emphasizes the use of scientific data in order to boost the productivity of workers in an organization. In talking about the interests if the employee and the employer, Taylor suggests that they are not really that different, as both exist in a combination with each other and hence cannot exist without the help of the other. Thus, it is possible for the employee to achieve what they desire i.e. better wages along with the employer getting what they desire, which are, lower expenses (Taylor, 1911).

The Chapter than also goes on to talk about how managers themselves can work on increasing productivity. There are certain things that a manager has to consider while working in a complex environment, as the manager might have to deal with competitive advantage, globalization and as well as diversity. He then has to utilize all of this to make better decisions regarding the key management functions i.e. planning, organizing, leading and controlling, in order to gain better labor and overall firm productivity (Kinicki, Williams, Scott-Ladd, & Perry, 2011)

This question will discuss if Quality management or more specifically, Total Quality management can lead to more innovation in an organization. Oslo Manual elaborates that innovation is an “implementation of products or processes with new or significantly improved characteristics, and new organizational methods in business practices, workplace organization and external relations” (OECD, 2005) A paper focusing on innovation in R&D in Agriculture, identifies two important types of innovation: Administrative innovation, which deals with the internal structure of the firm and how it can apply new ideas to improve the existing organizational structures and processes (Weerwardena, 2003, as cited by Maistry, Hurreeram , & Ramessur , 2017), and technological innovation, which deals with the use and exploration of new technologies for the purposes of Research and Development (Yonghong et al., 2005, as cited by Maistry , Hurreeram, & Ramessur , 2017).

Many prominent researches show that Quality management does, in fact, have an effect on innovation. Returning to the research by Baird and colleagues, where they show that as a part of seeing the effect of Organizational Culture on TQM, innovation also has some correlation with TQM. They test the hypothesis that “the organizational cultural dimension innovation will be positively related to the extent of the use of TQM practices” (Baird, K., Jia Hu, K., & Reeve, R., 2011). The paper elaborates that TQM requires that firms constantly try and improve themselves by seeking new ways or processes to achieve that. Innovative firms are more likely to explore and implement new practices that enhance quality and customer satisfaction, and hence employ TQM (Juranm 1988, as cited by Baird, K., Jia Hu, K., & Reeve, R., 2011). Another paper also showed a positive relationship between TQM and innovation, and it claimed that many innovation studies considered TQM to be a type of innovation. It also went on to say that both TQM and innovation had many things in common, namely, continuous and rigorous improvement, focus on customer needs and emphasis on management of people (Singh and Smith, 2004, Flynn et al., 1994, Prajogo and Sohal, 2001, as cited by Maistry, Hurreeram, & Ramessur, 2017).

PART 2

The concept of Lean Production is important in the area of Supply Chain Management in relation to a firm’s overall productivity and product quality. The concept of lean management seeks to “achieve “high-volume flexible” production with the use of minimal resources. It stresses the importance of improvement of production processes, focusing on elements that generate value and eliminating those that do not, and in turn reduce waste in an organization” (Alabama Technology Network, 1998; Inman, 1999; Davis and Heineke, 2005, as cited by Agus, & Hajinoor, M., 2012). Lean management alone can be increasingly helpful in increasing the production efficiency of the firm by minimizing wastage, but combining it with other strategies can even enhance the effects as explored in a journal by Agus, Arawati and Mohd Shukri Hajinoor. The journal explores the impact of lean production and management being carried out along with ‘Product Quality Performance’ (PQP) and its link to ‘Business Performance’, in the food industry in Malaysia (Agus, & Hajinoor, M., 2012).

The findings show that lean production processes such as reduction in setup time, pull-through production and reduced lead time has a positive contribution to PQP. There also came out some sort of a direct link between Lean production practices and the performance of a business, which in turn signals an indirect effect of PQP on a business’s performance. Practices in PQP, specifically relating to the performance, reliability, features and durability of a product directly affected business performance in a positive manner, in Malaysia’s manufacturing industry. Their final finding was that practices such as pull-through production, reduced setup time and programs aimed at continuous improvement had a strong contribution towards lean production” (Agus, & Hajinoor, M., 2012). Therefore, by adopting these practices alongside lean production a firm can bolster productivity, effectiveness and efficiency to a great degree.

References:

Agus, A., & Shukri Hajinoor, M. (2012). Lean production supply chain management as driver towards enhancing product quality and business performance. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 29(1), 92-121.

Baird, K., Jia Hu, K., & Reeve, R. (2011). The relationships between organizational culture, total quality management practices and operational performance. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 31(7), 789-814.

Kumar, M. R. & Sankaran, S. (2007). Indian Culture and the Culture for TQM: A Comparison. The TQM Magazine, 19(2), 176-188. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com.proxy.indianatech.edu/index?accountid=42681

Kinicki, A., Williams, B. K., Scott-Ladd, B. D., & Perry, M. (2011). Management: A practical introduction. McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Maistry, K., Hurreeram, D., & Ramessur, V. (2017). Total quality management and innovation. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 34(3), 418-437.

Oecd, E. (2005). Oslo manual: Guidelines for collecting and interpreting innovation data. Paris 2005, Sp, 46.

Powell, T C.Strategic management journal Vol. 16, Iss. 1, (Jan 1995): 138.

Taylor, F. W. (1911). The principles of scientiﬁc management. New York, 202. Human relations movement proposed that better human relations could increase worker productivity Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor