TQM is anchored to real customer delight. The best way to make quality happen is to answer three questions: Who defines quality? Who is the final inspector? And who pays your salary?
How often do you hear of companies setting goals in terms of number of project teams and managers to be trained? This is a clear example of activity. Unless activity is linked to understandable goals, quality will flounder. “What am I attempting to achieve”, ask of yourself. TQM should be linked to few clear goals.
Today, everybody is talking of Total Quality Management. But just having TQM is not enough. How you go about implementing it is what matters. The success of TQM is more visible in new born companies or companies that face a survival crisis. Unfortunately, companies in the middle, have a veriety of reasons not to implement TQM as priority number one. Consequently TQM can fail.
TQM essentially involves attention to the process, commitment to the customer, involvement of employees, and bench marking of the best practices. It is difficult to believe that one cannot benefit from these factors. Yet, success is not automatic. Changing a routine process cannot be done overnight. TQM is a laborious technique and companies have to work towards implementing it the right way. But like most buzzwords, TQM in most companies is falling prey to lip service. Organizations may say they are using TQM, but when the processes are not right, how can they make full use of the benefits that accrue? While its benefits and advantages are widely discussed, there is little thought given to why TQM may fail. In fact, like in almost any enterprise, there are usually more ways to fail than to succeed.
Delegate too much
Typically, someone decrees, “Let’s start a TQM programme. And let us put the QA manager, Ramakrishnan, in charge of TQM for the whole company”. Thus anointed, chief quality guru Ramakrishnan goes shopping with the limited authority and funds available to him. And what does Ramakrishnan buy and implement? Some SPC training for all plant people as a starter. Nine months later, the CEO sees no change in the steady erosion of business and the downward spiral of profit.
It is a gloomy story, but it’s harpening over and over again. TQM is not completely delegable. The CEO has to be involved. Take the case of the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab Tractors. He invests a third of his time attending quality council meetings, auditing the progress of project teams, developing strategic quality plans, conducting quality management training and vendor up gradation programmes. With this, several other responsibilities are easily delegated.
Train without action: Whom do you send for training? Someone who has time. So, who do you send for more training? The same someone who has time. The one who can action his training has no time for training. In the words of Dr Joseph M Juran: “Training without action is easily forgotten. Training with action is remembered”. Training is the most expensive input in a TQM programme. Training programmes that are driven by “just-in-case” tend to lose out. Ideally, this precious input should be imparted just-in-time for action.
A successful example is Mukand. Here, training is a responsibility of the quality secretariat. Core courses are even conducted all through the year. Employees are permitted to attend sessions of these core courses on an anticipated need basis at their own pace. The quality literacy at Mukand is thus commendable.
Confuse activity with results: How often have you heard of companies setting goals in terms of number of project teams and number of managers to be trained? This is a clear example of activity. Unless activity is linked to easily understandable strategic goals, quality efforts flounder. Ask constantly, “What am I attempting to achieve?” TQM activity should be linked to few clear strategic goals.
Johnson and Johnson redesigned its quality effort targets to dovetail with three quantifiable goals: boosting customer satisfaction, reducing product introduction time, and cutting costs.
The 168 divisional units of Johnson and Johnson can train how they like and call it what they like, as long as they focus on these three goals. The Indian entity, while networking with other group units, has customised its own approach to attain the three strategic goals.
Belief in driving out fear: Very often, when companies say they are using TQM, it is only what they perceive as TQM. This occurs mainly because the implementers’ knowledge and understanding of the technique is superficial. For instance, most people believe that they are supposed to drive out fear and eliminate numerical goals. Yet, research indicates that fear and goals can be highly beneficial if carefully managed. And TQM efforts suffer from their omission.
Remedy of the symptom instead of the cause
Every organisation is a hatchery for problems. This is equally applicable to manufacturing and service, whether profit-driven or otherwise. Over the years, we have perfected the skills to use band-aids and aspirins for problem-solving. This amounts to fire fighting. In effect, we are adept at treating the symptoms of the problems.
Beneficial business results are achieved by treating the causes of chronic problems. Getting down to identifying and then treating the root causes can stem the rot. This is fire prevention.
This preventive measure cannot be done overnight. It takes time. And for companies, this could mean scrutinising various departments. There may be a problem in a particular department. By going deeper into the matter, the source of the problem can be traced to an entirely different department. Hence the need for cross-functional or interdepartmental teams.
Several organizations in India have successfully tested the root cause approach to problem solving. Collectively, the nation may have 10,000 chronic problems solved. This is the tip of the iceberg. Japan solves four million problems per annum. Only a few companies have successfully scaled-up. Noteworthy are Tata Steel, Crompton Greaves, Mahindra and Mahindra.
Equate ISO 9000 with TQM
ISO 9000 systems are required for quality management. ISO 9000 systems are not the end in quality management. These systems focus on quality control for manufacturing only.
Total quality management requires application of three quality management processes: quality planning, quality control, quality improvement. To support these processes, companies require an infrastructural system that extends beyond manufacturing to processes for all outputs generated by an organisation. One such option is the International Quality Rating System. This state-of-the-art system has the ingredients for attaining world-class quality. It has been successfully used by winners in the United States and European markets.
Some companies in India have either conducted an International Quality Rating System baseline audit, or are planning to do so. The audit is a means to leap-frog on the journey to world-class quality. The pioneers are Larsen and Toubro, ITC, Vikram Cement and Rajashree Cement.
Simple Prescription
Ultimately, TQM is anchored to customer delight. The best way to make quality happen is to answer three simple questions: Who defines quality? Who is the final inspector? Who pays your salary? If the answer is other than “customer”, you are guaranteed to fail on your total quality management strategy.
CREDITS: Suresh Lulla, Founder & Mentor, Qimpro Consultants Pvt. Ltd.