MS 96 IGNOU MBA Solved Assignment - Discuss the objectives and structure of ISO 9000.

Discuss the objectives and structure of ISO 9000.

Part 4 (ISO 9000-4) - Guide to dependability program management. ISO 9001 compliance is based on adherence to the requirements contained in the 20 elements listed below. Familiarity with these elements is very important and requires the attention, assistance, cooperation, and effort of business management and employees. ISO 9001 - 20 Elements: .1Management  Responsibility 2 Quality System 3 Contract Review 4 Design Control 5 Document and Data Control 6 Purchasing 7 Control of Customer Supplied Product 8 Project Identification and Traceability 9 Process Control 10 Inspection and Testing 11 Control of Inspection, Measuring and Test Equipment 12 Inspection and Test Status 13 Control of Nonconforming Product 15 Handling, Storage, Packaging,Preservation and Delivery 16 Control of Quality Records 17 Internal Quality Audits 18 Training 19 Servicing 20 Statistical Techniques ISO 9001 System Overview Quality System at Work: A quality system should detect, correct, and prevent product quality problems. The primary role of a quality system is to ensure that: All activities are planned. Activities are performed in a predetermined way. Clearly defined channels for communication of information and instructions exist and are used.

MS 96 IGNOU MBA Solved Assignment -Explain “P-D-C-A cycle”. Discuss how it is helpful in problem solving.

Explain “P-D-C-A cycle”. Discuss how it is helpful in problem solving.

Ans The PDCA cycle is commonly used to improve the quality of projects undertaken. It is a structured approach to any and all change efforts, whether personal or business in nature. Credited to Walter Shewhart and W. Edwards Deming, the PDCA cycle is also referred to as the Deming Cycle.

What PDCA Stands For

P - Plan The first thing you want to do when approaching anything-a new project at work, a change of habit-is to make a plan using all reasonable resources and available knowledge. Make sure you clearly define your goal, your expectations and your commitment level. Run the plan by others; compare the plan to the efforts of others who have gone before you. Decide upon an actual plan.
Put your plan into action. Keep track of your efforts and the results. Document the experience.
Compare results to expectations. Look for differences between expectation in resource use, effort required and success achieved or failure.
If you reached your goals in a satisfactory manner, consider yourself done. If you did not reach your goals, repeat the cycle starting with P-making a plan.
Let's say you want to lose weight. You can use the PDCA cycle to help you reach your goal.
Decide upon a goal weight. If this will include measurements of body fat or circumferences, take measurements and establish goals for these factors also. Decide how you will tackle this issue. Will you diet? Exercise? Combine both? What diet will you follow? Low carb? Low fat? Whole grain? Vegan? What kind of exercise will you pursue? Aerobic? Weight lifting?
Follow your plan for a pre-established amount of time. Follow your plan as closely as possible.
At the end of the pre-determined time, check your results. How close are you to your goal weight? How close are you to your goal measurements? What parts of your plan worked? Which parts were the hardest or least pleasant?
If you've met your goal, celebrate! If you haven't, revise the plan, improving upon it as you embark on attempt number two. Repeat the cycle until you reach your goal.
Drill Down, Cause and Effect Diagrams, and the 5 Whys to help you really get to the root of it. Once you've done this, it may be appropriate for you to
map the process that is at the root of the problem

D - Do

C - Check

A - Act

An Example Of PDCA In Action

P

D

C

A

How to Use the Tool

The PDCA Cycle encourages you to be methodical in your approach to problem solving and implementing solutions. Follow the steps below every time to ensure you get the highest quality solution possible.

Step 1: Plan

First, identify exactly what your problem is. You may find it useful to use tools like 

Next, draw together any other information you need that will help you start sketching out solutions.

Step 2: Do

This phase involves several activities:

·         Generate possible solutions.

·         Select the best of these solutions, perhaps using techniques like Impact Analysis to scrutinize them.

·         Implement a pilot project on a small scale basis, with a small group, or in a limited geographical area, or using some other trial design appropriate to the nature of your problem, product or initiative.

Our section on Practical Creativity includes several tools that can help you generate ideas and solutions. Our section on Decision Making includes a number of tools that will help you to choose in a scientific and dispassionate way between the various potential solutions you generate.

Step 3: Check

In this phase, you measure how effective the pilot solution has been, and gather together any learnings from it that could make it even better.

Depending on the success of the pilot, the number of areas for improvement you have identified, and the scope of the whole initiative, you may decide to repeat the "Do" and "Check" phases, incorporating your additional improvements.

Once you are finally satisfied that the costs would outweigh the benefits of repeating the Do-Check sub-cycle any more, you can move on to the final phase.

Step 4: Act

Now you implement your solution fully. However, your use of the PDCA Cycle doesn't necessarily stop there. If you are using the PDCA or Deming Wheel as part of a continuous improvement initiative, you need to loop back to the Plan Phase (Step 1), and seek out further areas for improvement.

The Deming Cycle provides a useful, controlled problem solving process. It is particularly effective for:

·         Helping implement Kaizen or Continuous Improvement approaches, when the cycle is repeated again and again as new areas for improvement are sought and solved.

·         Identifying new solutions and improvement to processes that are repeated frequently. In this situation, you will benefit from extra improvements built in to the process many times over once it is implemented.

·         Exploring a range of possible new solutions to problems, and trying them out and improving them in a controlled way before selecting one for full implementation.

·         Avoiding the large scale wastage of resources that comes with full scale implementation of a mediocre or poor solution.

- The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle provides a simple but effective approach for problem solving and managing change, ensuring that ideas are appropriately tested before committing to full implementation. It can be used in all sorts of environments from new product development through to marketing, or even politics.

It begins with a Planning phase in which the problem is clearly identified and understood. Potential solutions are then generated and tested on a small scale in the "Do" phase, and the outcome of this testing is evaluated during the Check phase. "Do" and "Check" phases can be iterated as many times as is necessary before the full, polished solution is implemented in the "Act" phase.

MS 96 IGNOU MBA Solved Assignment - Do you think leadership is an important aspect for successful application of Quality Management in an organization? Justify giving examples.

Do you think leadership is an important aspect for successful application of Quality Management in an organization? Justify giving examples.    

Ans Globalization in the business theater is driving companies toward a new view of quality as a necessary tool to compete successfully in worldwide markets. A direct outcome of this new emphasis is the philosophy of total quality management (TQM). In essence, TQM is a company-wide perspective that strives for customer satisfaction by seeking zero defects in products and services.

 Total quality management or TQM is defined as an integrative philosophy of management for continuously improving thequality of products and processes.TQM functions on the premise that the quality of products and processes is the responsibility of everyone who is involved with the creation or consumption of the products or services offered by an organization. In other words, TQM capitalizes on the involvement of management, workforce, suppliers, and even customers, in order to meet or exceed customer expectations
Making quality improvements was once thought to be the sole responsibility of specialists (quality engineers, product designers, and process engineers). Today, developing quality across the entire firm can be an important function of leadership. a failure on leadership's part to recognize this opportunity and act on it may result in the loss of TQM implementation responsibilities to other departments with less expertise in training and development. The ultimate consequence of this loss is an ineffective piecemealing of the TQM strategy. Thus, leadership should act as the pivotal change agent necessary for the successful implementation of TQM.
What is the role of leadership in TQM Implementation?Leadership can act as senior management's tool in implementing TQM in two fundamental ways. First, by modeling the TQM philosophy and principles within its departmental operations, leadership can serve as a beachhead for the TQM process throughout the company. Second, leadership, with senior management's support, can take the TQM process company-wide by developing and delivering the long-term training and development necessary for the major organizational culture shift required by TQM.
Implementing TQM requires a team effort headed by your organization's leadership team. Each person involved in change management has their responsibilities, and it is important for the entire organization to understand the role of leadership in TQM to make delegating responsibility more effective.
1)      InvolvementTQM of any kind of new company policy or program requires participation from all of the departments that will be affected. Company leadership needs to identify what those departments are and create an implementation team that consists of representatives from each affected group. Management needs to create a structure that identifies various group leaders, the responsibilities of those group leaders and an accountability system that insures that the implementation team meets its timetable for getting the new program or policy in place.
2)      InterestImplementing TQM within a company requires a feeling of urgency on the part of the entire company. It is the job of management to create that urgency by explaining to the staff why the implementation is necessary. Leadership needs to help the employees understand how the company benefits from the new implementation, but it also needs to get the organization to see the setbacks of not making a change.
3)      MonitoringTQM within a company is not an exact process. It is a dynamic procedure that needs to be monitored by management and altered to meet implementation goals. it is the responsibility of leadership to put a monitoring system in place, analyze the data that is being generated during the implementation and make any necessary changes to make the implementation more efficient.
4)      Next stepImplementing TQM is often done in phases. The company leadership needs to be able to identify when each phase of TQM is complete and be ready to transition the company to the next phase. For example, if the company is bringing in a new software program for customer management, then the first phase of the program may be to implement it in the sales department. Management needs to identify when the proper alterations to the software have been made that will allow it to be implemented in other parts of the company.
Implementing a TQM system has become the preferred approach for improving quality and productivity in organizations. TQM, which has been adopted by leading industrial companies, is a participative system empowering all employees to take responsibility for improving quality within the organization. Instead of using traditional bureaucratic rule enforcement, TQM calls for a change in the corporate culture, where the new work climate has the following characteristics:
       (i)            an open, problem-solving atmosphere;
     (ii)            participatory design making;
    (iii)            trust among all employees (staff, line, workers, managers);
   (iv)            a sense of ownership and responsibility for goal achievement and problems solving; and,
     (v)            Self-motivation and self-control by all employees.
 The TQM approach involves more than simply meeting traditional rejection rate standards. The end result of TQM is the efficient and effective use of all organizational processes in providing consistent quality at a competitive price. The TQM philosophy is a long-term endeavor that links people and processes in a system that alters the corporate culture to become one where quality is the core aspect of business strategy.
In cultivating the TQM philosophy, strategy implementation must involve a focused effort on the part of every employee within the organization. It cannot be applied successfully on a piecemeal basis. TQM requires that management, and eventually every member of the organization, commit to the need for continual improvement in the way work is accomplished. Business plans, strategies, and management actions require continual rethinking in order to develop a culture that reinforces the TQM perspective. The challenge is to develop a robust culture where the idea of quality improvement is not only widely understood across departments, but becomes a fundamental, deep-seated value within each function area as well.
Leadership therefore can jumpstart the TQM process by becoming a role model. This means that leadership has two specific tasks: "serving our customers, and making a significant contribution to running the business." this emphasis on customer oriented service means that leadership must see other departments in the firm as their customer groups for whom making continuing improvements in service becomes a way of life.
In their efforts to achieve TQM, leadership can demonstrate commitment to TQM principles by soliciting feedback from its internal customer groups on current hr services. Leadership should include suggestions from its customers in setting objective performance standards and measures. In other words, there are a number of specific TQM principles that leadership can model.
The current emphasis on quality as a competitive strategy has produced many views regarding the actions necessary to achieve it. Leaders in the quality movement (Deming, Juran, Crosby, Feigenbaum have proposed similar approaches which share certain themes. these themes can be summarized as five basic principles:
·         focus on customers' needs;
·         focus on problem prevention, not correction;
·         make continuous improvements: seek to meet customers' requirements on time, the first time, every time;
·         train employees in ways to improve quality; and,
·         Apply the team approach to problem solving.
 To institute TQM as a philosophy within an organization, all employees must come to realize that satisfying customers is essential to the long-run well-being of the firm and their jobs. No longer is the customer-driven focus exclusive to the marketing department. But customer satisfaction can only be achieved after first defining the customer groups. The new perspective here is that all employees exist to serve their customer groups, some internal and some external to the firm. The organisation has internal customers to satisfy, which indirectly provides ultimate satisfaction to external customers.
The TQM approach entails identifying the wants and needs of customer groups and then propelling the entire organization toward fulfilling these needs. A customer's concerns must be taken seriously, and organizations should make certain that its employees are empowered to make decisions that will ensure a high level of customer satisfaction. This can be achieved by promoting an environment of self-initiative and by not creating a quagmire of standard operating procedures and company policies. Flexibility is the key, especially in a business environment that is diverse and constantly changing, as most are today. In modeling these aspects of the TQM process, leadership would need to identify human resource concerns of other departments and undertake to continually improve its performance, especially in any trouble areas that come to light.
Based on this "customer first" orientation, organizational members are constantly seeking to improve products or services. Employees are encouraged to work together across organizational boundaries. Underlying these cooperative efforts are two crucial ideas. One is that the initial contact with the customer is critical and influences all future association with that customer. The other idea is that it is more costly to acquire new customers than to keep the customers you already have. Exemplifying TQM here would mean that leadership would need to train itself, focusing on being customer-driven toward other departments
Quality improvement programs typically involve the directed efforts of quality improvement (QI) teams. Using teams and empowering employees to solve quality-related issues using such tools as statistical process control (SPC) represent fundamental changes in how many businesses operate. The focus of SPC, also known as statistical quality control (SQC), is defect prevention as opposed to defect correction. Defect prevention results from continuously monitoring and improving the process. In this context "process" refers to service delivery as well as manufacturing. To ensure that output meets quality specifications, monitoring is performed by periodically inspecting small samples of the product. SPC alone will not ensure quality improvement; rather, it is a tool for monitoring and identifying quality problems.
The effective use of quality improvement teams, and the TQM system as a whole, can be reinforced by applying basic principles of motivation. In particular, the recognition of team accomplishments as opposed to those of individuals, and the effective use of goal setting for group efforts, are important in driving the TQM system. Leadership is in a position to help institutionalize team approaches to TQM by designing appraisal and reward systems that focus on team performance.
For many companies, the philosophy of TQM represents a major culture shift away from a traditional production-driven atmosphere. In the face of such radical operational makeovers, a determined implementation effort is vital to prevent TQM from becoming simply latitudinal and the teams approach just another management fad. Senior management must take the lead in overt support of TQM. 

      

MS 96 IGNOU MBA Solved Assignment - List out the 140 steps give by Crosby in TQM. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Crosby’s “Absolute Quality Management”

List out the 140 steps give by Crosby in TQM. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Crosby’s “Absolute Quality Management”

steps give by Crosby in TQM.

Crosby proposed management fourteen steps to improvement:

1.         Make it clear that management is committed to quality. [Key: Management Commitment].

2.         Form quality improvement teams with representatives from each department [Key : Quality Improvement].

3.         Determine where current and potential quality problems lie [Key : Quality Measurement].

4.         Evaluate the cost of quality and explain its use as a management tool. [Key : Cost of Quality].

5.         Raise the quality awareness and personal concern of all employees. [Key : Quality awareness].

6.         Take actions to correct problems identified through previous steps [Key : Corrective action]

7.         Establish a committee for the zero defects programme. [Key : Zero Defect Planning]

8.         Train supervisors to actively carry out their part of the quality improvement program. [Key : Supervisor training].

9.         Hold a ‘zero defects day’ to let all employees realize that there has been a change. [Key : ZD day]

10.       Encourage individuals to establish improvement goals for themselves and their groups. [Key : Goal setting]

11.       Encourage employees to communicate to management the obstacles they face in attaining their improvement goals. [Key : Error-Cause removal].

12.       Recognize and appreciate those who participate. [Key : Recognition]

13.       Establish quality councils to communicate on a regular basis. [Key Quality Councils]

14.       Do it all over again to emphasize that the quality improvement program never ends. [Key : Do-it-over-again].

MS 96 IGNOU MBA Solved Assignment -Explain the salient features of Total Quality Management (TQM) approach and their relevance in the present competitive environment.

Explain the salient features of Total Quality Management (TQM) approach and their relevance in the present competitive environment.

Ans : TQM is a new method of quality management involving many levels and processes of different functions, but requiring an integrated cooperation. Characteristics of TQM can be listed as follows:

1. Target:

In TQM, the most important target to achieve is Quality; Quality policy must be set toward customer. Meeting customer's needs mean satisfying every customer requirement but not trying to reach some quality standards set before. Never stop innovating - never stop perfecting the quality is one of the most important principles of TQM.

2. Scope:

To ensure the quality of service and product, TQM system requires the extending of production process to suppliers and sub-contractors. Normally, the trading of material in production may account for 70% of final product cost (depend on types of product). Therefore, to ensure the quality of the input material, it is necessary to set up specific standards for each type of material to control its quality. It is also necessary to change the method of placing order to make it suitable with the production process.

3. Form:

In stead of controlling the quality of the finished product (after production), TQM sets up plans and programs to supervise and prevent problems right before the production process. Statistical tools are used to supervise, quantitatively analyze the results as well as factors affecting the quality, consider the reasons and take appropriate prevention methods.

4. Basis of TQM system:

The basis of TQM practice in the company is Human. Talking about quality, people usually think about the product quality. But it is the quality of employees that is the main concern of TQM. Of the three factors of Business, which are hard factor (machines, equipments, money...), Soft factor (methods, secrets, information...) and Human factor, Human is of the first concern to TQM.

The basic principle for implementation of TQM is that the qualification of employees is developed fully and integratedly through training, delegation and assignment.

5. Organization:

TQM system is cross organized and functioned in order to manage, integratedly corporate with different activities of the system and facilitate group working. The implementation of TQM requires the participation of high and middle level managers. A proper organization will help duties to be assigned clearly. Thus, TQM needs new management model, with different characteristics from the previous model.

6. Management skills and tools:

Methods to implement must be based on the principle "do correctly at the very beginning", in researching and designing to minimize economic cost. Strictly apply DEMMING circle (PDCA) to make foundation for the continuous quality improvement.