Application of Operation Quality Management on Selected Cases - Coursework Example

Application of Operation Quality Management on Selected Cases Introduction In a world of businesses and industries, one important aspect to consider is the quality of products and services they provide, and in which a continuous improvement of quality plays essential role to the success of any company. Providing “quality assurance” in different perspective must be prioritized first and the company must exert extra time and effort because it can also offer great return of investment to the company. Total Quality The total quality must start within the organization/management system and centering its attention in providing higher consumer satisfaction. The company must also handle changes by continuous “learning” and “adaptation” with constant use of scientific approach. Basically, according to Evans and Lindsay a total quality must hold three fundamental “principles”—(1) “Customer and stakeholder focus”; (2) “Participation and teamwork” and; (3) “Process focus and continuous improvement”. Costumer Satisfaction in Focus “Satisfaction is an attitude; loyalty is a behavior” once quoted in the “The Management and Control of Quality” by Evan and Lindsay and this should be the fundamental slogan of every company in order to get a much higher return of investment. Satisfied costumers will be much likely to give their loyalty in which a company can get more than the profit of its product or service. Satisfied costumers can also be an advertising mechanism of the company since their loyalty can influence other people to try products or services from the company they getting satisfaction. This is why most of the managers are paying too much attention to enhance costumer satisfaction. Southwestern University In the same manner as most managers’ eagerness in providing costumer satisfaction, Joel Wisner, President of Southwestern University, also envision of giving satisfaction to people while watching football in the University’s stadium. Wisner is currently facing costumer feedback indicating somehow dissatisfaction from the costumer. He asked Leslie Gardner, Vice President, to conduct a study that will solve the problem. Gardner had already done a survey using randomly selection of 50 respondents in every game last year, in order to assess the costumers’ perception regarding overall quality of watching the football which includes quality of actual game, costumers’ perception of the tickets as well as concession. She even had an open-ended comment for the costumers who want to include assessment not indicated in the questionnaire. In five corresponding games, she had a total of 250 respondents: 115 Alumnus, 83 students, 16 faculty/staff and 38 other persons. Costumer: Satisfied or Dissatisfied? In the first assessment of the quality being perceived by costumers during the game day, levels of costumers’ satisfaction regarding parking, traffic, seating, entertainment and printed program are plotted in figure 1. Generally, it does not show extreme costumers’ dissatisfaction on the five mentioned services being assessed, however, only on the aspect of entertainment the University was able to get the most number of satisfied costumer and the other aspects have even distribution of costumers on the level of satisfaction. It is also quite noticing that most number of respondents chose the middle level of satisfaction. Although it does not mean dissatisfaction, however, the University was not able to make its costumers achieve total satisfaction in since it does not also mean well satisfied. Therefore, the University must focus on improving the quality of parking, traffic, seating, and printed program as also reflected on the comments in survey. Figure 1 In figure 2, costumers’ satisfaction in regards to the quality of tickets; it is clear that most of the costumers achieve high level satisfaction. With minimal effort, the University can still boost the costumer satisfaction in order to prevent the dissatisfaction in the future just like the above trend in figure 1and ultimately to achieve 100% satisfied costumers. Figure 2 In the last part of the survey, figure 3 shows the costumers’ satisfaction in relation to concessions such as prices, selection of food and speed service. Among the three aspects of concessions, only in the selection of food most of the costumer got high level of satisfaction Figure 3 Tree Diagram Another way of presenting the data on the survey is using a tree diagram in which a careful analysis will do in selecting aspect that needs improvement that will satisfy costumers. The comments made by the respondents will be used since it can easily be seen in the tabulated response of costumers to the questionnaire. In using tree diagram, the University can have a clear view of the problem regarding costumer satisfaction. Next Steps With this analysis of the surveyed data, the University can now focus on every aspects starting with the most important down to the last. With proper attention, the University can study what are the causes of the problem and eventually look for possible solution. After the implementation of solutions, another survey must be conducted and will be compared to the previous date in order to determine the effectiveness of solutions and if goal of providing costumers’ satisfaction has been achieved. Disciplinary Citation Case Most of the times mistakes are being committed by the employees, in turn, quality of products or services is being affected as exemplifies in the 40 drivers who deliver throughout the metropolitan area but encountered 240 mistakes in a year. The manager resolved this problem by issuing disciplinary citation to drivers for each mistake. Can this be considered a quality improvement or not? It is quite evident that a problem or a “deviation between what “should be” and what “is” (Evans and Lindsay) do exist in this situation. This problem can be considered “conformance problem” type that must be corrected by converting “what is’ into what “should be” (Evans and Lindsay). The manager’s imposition of disciplinary citation, however, will not be able to truly solve the problem because his decision did not consider some of the possible statistical data from the raw data which can give substantial information in solving the problem. Moreover, the careful analysis and interpretation of statistical data such as mean, median, standard deviation, variance among others can enlighten the root causes of the problem. Deming Cycle In reference to the “Deming Cycle”, one essential composition of it is to study the data first before making necessary action. With the understanding of the nature of problem by generating statistical data, one can truly correct the problem particularly in this case. Since the manager just based his action on the number of mistakes only, he failed to recognize the following descriptive statistics in the figure below. If Deming cycle would be followed, a study of descriptive statistics would prepare one in taking action as well as planning on how to do the correction of the problem. Figure 4: Average: 5.975 Median: 3 Mode: 1 Min: 0 Max: 24 Standard Deviation: 6.584704499 Variance: 43.35833333 In analyzing the above data, one can now proceed to make inferences in tracing the real cause of the problem or factor affecting the service. In furtherance of service quality improvement, it can now generate possible concepts on how to if not totally avoid or lessen the effects of the factors on the quality of the services. Then evaluating the possible solutions to the problem would be needed in order to ensure the effectiveness of action to be implemented to the drivers. Deming’s Philosophy The manager’s approach in the above situation cannot be possibly found in the realm of Deming’s philosophy. He has a strong conviction that by making the working environment that provide support, education and enhancement of pride as well as responsibilities, the employee can express his ultimate “potential” in a company. In his “System of Profound Knowledge”, a manager must learn four basic interrelated principles such as “Appreciation for a system”, “Understanding variation”, “Theory of knowledge” and “Psychology”. Apparently all these knowledge were not utilized by the manager in the problem. Hagler Case Hagler Case is the same as the above case in which Ron Hagler, Vice President of sales for Selit Corp, failed to apply the statistics in his approach when he received the quarterly sales report from the past five years on different regions. He called a meeting with regional managers without proper understanding of the data. Thus, basing only to the percentage change in quarterly sales as his reference, he made wrong appraisal of the managers. In the meeting, he commended the performances of managers assigned in Northeast Region, Southwest Region and Northwest Region because of increase sales during the fourth quarter up to 20.6%, 11.7%, and 17.2% respectively. On the other hand, North Central Region, Mid-Atlantic Region, and South Central managers were reprimanded due to the decrease of sales, also with respect only between the fourth quarter sales of previous year and the current year, down to 5.5% but up 4.7% from the previous year, down 3.2% and down 2.6% from the previous year, and down 19.7% and down 22.3% from the previous year respectively. Although the percentage change Hagler presented are true, however, by looking only the fourth quarter aspect of the sales report, the overall trend of sales for the last five years. Function of Statistical Thinking With Hagler’s analysis, the true nature of the data and he will never know exactly which region is having a problem. For instance, the manager assigned in Northeast Region deliberately boosts up his sales only on the fourth quarter but did sluggish earning during the first up to third quarter, while, the manager assigned in North Central Region, though she is working very hard in the past five years but failed to get high year ending, was scolded by Hagler. In this case, Hagler committed the “Two Fundamental Management Mistakes” or the interchange of “special causes” and “common causes” in viewing any “faults and mistakes” (Evans and Lindsay). In order to avoid these mistakes, Hagler must have statistical thinking in order to truly understand the nature of the data. Without proper understanding of the data, he would also fail to think possible root causes of the problem as well as plausible solutions. Overall Trend of Sales Report In order to have a clear picture of the sales report, a line graph presented below showing the overall trend of sales of the last five years will be of great assistance to Hagler’s decision. Among the six regions, Hagler only got correct analysis in on South Central Region in which it has been sluggish for the past five years and having a downward trend in earning. On the contrary to Hagler’s analysis of the remaining regions, although Northeast Region increased it sales between 2002 and 2003, still no pattern of increasing sales. Unlike in Mid Atlantic Region, even though the increase is slow, still, it has a clear increasing trend of sales. In relation to the Southwest Region, Hagler failed to recognize the drastic downfall change of sales from 2002 to 2003. This kind of change needs much greater emphasis on what went wrong in this region and how to find solution to it. Hagler, however, was not able to perceive that information. In view the North Central, Hagler must recognize the upward movement of sales for the last two years and it would be just for the manager in this region to get commendation for his hard work, whereas, the Northwest must be identified as a problem since it is clearly seen in its downward movement of its trend. South Central is the only one that Hagler’ Figure 5 Ritz-Carlton Case Ritz-Carlton is synonymous to quality and indulgence. As a winner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the Ritz has placed quality service at the core of its operations. This translates to a commitment to satisfy customer demands and to ensuring that each hotel in the chain is free of any flaw or inadequacy. The challenge faced by the company is the creations of the key balance of components that will make the Ritz-Carlton experience stand out for each and every customer. Prior to applying for the Baldrige Award, company management took a shot at calibrating and quantifying quality by going through an extensive self-assessment of its operations. Nineteen procedures were assessed; these include room-service delivery, guest reservation and registration, and breakfast service, among others. The assessment involved statistical evaluations of such things as process work flows and cycle times of the various tasks undertaken by hotel staff. The results obtained were used to create performance yardsticks against which future tasks and processes could be gauged. Having put the particular, quantifiable objectives in place, Ritz-Carlton now aims on continuous quality enhancement. Their goal is to provide 100% customer satisfaction. If a customer is in any way dissatisfied by the Ritz experience, the company risks losing that customer to competition. Diagnostic Techniques According to Ritz-Carlton, “we only measure what we must. But we make sure that what we measure is important to our customers”. Quality control refers to the operational methods and tasks that sustain the quality of a given product or service. The methods and techniques used in the analysis of data control include diagnostic techniques, acceptance sampling, and process control. Control charts, Pareto diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, histograms and the like are several of the diagnostic techniques used to detect and classify problems that affect the quality of products and processes. In the case of a hotel, these diagnostic techniques may help to pinpoint any problem or potential problem that may arise in the hotel’s quality control scheme. The “Seven Tools” for quality improvement are identified as such: process flowcharts, checklists (check sheets), histograms, Pareto diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, scatter diagrams, and control charts. Non-financial Measures According to some studies, measures of ensuring customer satisfaction actually have little to do with financial performance. It has been found that revenue growth has more to do with “advocacy”, which translates to increased share of market and higher levels of retention. A hotel chain seeking to make use of non-financial measures of customer satisfaction should aim to promote customer advocacy and loyalty by focusing on the following attributes that greatly influence the customer experience: people, product/service delivery, place, product/service features, price, procedures and policies, and promotion. Conclusion Nowadays, product or service quality is one of the foremost concerns of any business establishment or organization. Continuous enhancement of quality serves a big role and ensures that a company will continue to be successful. Quality assurance must always remain as a top priority if big returns in investment are to be expected. Reference: Evans and Lindsay. 2002. The Management and Control of Quality ppt. Retrieved November 3, 2007 from . Read More