OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT AND TQM

(MGT 219)

SEPTEMBER 2021

ASSIGNMENT #1:
 Requirements: Type in a short/A4 bond paper size with 12 font size, Arial
font, 1 1/2 spacing with cover page (seal/logo of SKSU), and will be submitted
on the next scheduled class. Don't forget to put your name/course/year and
section (the filename must be: lastname_course_year-section_mgt219.) Send
your assignment to my email address: [email protected]

1. What is TQM (Total Quality Management)? Explain.

To comprehend the meaning of "total quality management," it is necessary to

first define the term "quality."

Quality is a characteristic that determines whether a product or service is

superior or inferior. Quality is an attribute that distinguishes a product or
service from its competitors. Every business relies heavily on quality. To
survive the cutthroat competition, business marketers must prioritize brand
quality over quantity.

Why would a customer choose you over a competitor who offers the same
product? The distinction must be in terms of quality. To stand out from the
crowd, your brand must be superior.

Total Quality management is defined as a continuous effort by the

management as well as employees of a particular organization to ensure long
term customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Take note that, one happy
and satisfied customer brings with him ten new customers, while an unhappy
customer will spread bad words and spoil some existing and potential
customers.

In exchange for customer loyalty, you must provide your customers with
something extra. Quality can be measured in durability, reliability and usage
and etc. Total quality management is a structured endeavor, through proper
feedback, research and quality improvement of employees' products and
 services continuously. It is not a single member's responsibility to ensure the
superior quality of a product or service.

The total management of quality ensures the work culture, processes,

services and systems improved for all employees in order to ensure long-term
success. Total Quality management can be divided into four categories:

a. Planning Phase – The most important phase of total quality

management is planning. Employees must come up with problems and
questions to be addressed during this phase.

b. Doing Phase – Employees in the doing phase develop a solution to the

problems identified during the planning phase.

c. Checking Phase – The checking phase is when people do a

comparison analysis of before and after data to confirm the processes'
effectiveness and measure the results.

d. Acting Phase – During this phase, employees document their findings

and prepare to tackle new issues.

2. How can the management of quality contribute to competitive

advantage?

When a company have a higher-quality products or services than its

competitors, that company will have a higher sales and have ability to charge
higher prices than of its competitors.a

However, the question asks about the management of quality. By this, we

mean methods used to determine which aspects of a product or service
constitute quality, as well as the processes used to manage them so that they
can be reliably replicated.
 TQM, or Total Quality Management, is the applicable key concept here. In the
1950s, it was defined as a methodology and gained widespread acceptance.
It is founded on the principles that:

• Quality can be measured by defining desired features in a product or

service and establishing metrics for those features.

• Quality can be defined and controlled by defining and controlling the

inputs and processes that produce it.

• Because quality is the result of the combined actions of the entire firm
and the business ecosystem in which it operates, most notably its
supply chain, it must be managed in this context.

Nevertheless, effective quality management gives a company a competitive

advantage in two ways. For starters, it ensures that the company's product
features are trustworthy, so that customers know exactly what to expect from
each purchase. Second, it pinpoints the exact causes of specific quality
outcomes, allowing inconsistencies to be identified and eliminated, and quality
to be improved.

3. Provide a comparison of the four types of process strategies, and give

local examples of each.

Let's start by defining what a process strategy is. A strategy, as the name
implies, is a decision made to mediate between two variables. In this case,
the goal is to determine which arbitration is most appropriate for a business
and the various dynamics (processes) that occur within it. All business, as
well as human resources, general resources, and profits, will be kept in-
house.

The process strategies include:

 a. Process focus is an analysis of what matters most to a company's
success. It begins at the very bottom, with the tiniest of details and
progresses to the most abstract concepts such as work culture, vision,
mission, and goals. This is a great way to map out the company and
see if all of the necessary success factors are in sync.

b. Focus on repetitive processes: The following are some of the process

strategy questions: What is the company's rhythm? What's the best
way to get things done? What are the steps involved in achieving a
goal? Most importantly, this strategy raises the question of whether this
is a formulaic process that can be successfully repeated time and time
again. Consider working at a fast food restaurant during lunch. There
are a slew of repetitive processes that must take place in order for
customers to be served and the restaurant to make money.

c. Product focus: What exactly is being offered to the market? Is it

something marketable? Sought after? The focus of this intervention
should be on a clear and limited range of high-quality options with good
availability. Consider how Apple, for example, sells its products as if
they were unique. In comparison to competitor brands, their selection is
actually quite limited. This is due to their desire to focus on the
product's quality and ability to perform a variety of tasks.
d. Mass customization – Products are required at various times and for
various purposes. Consider the numerous holidays that occur
throughout the year, as well as the various products that people enjoy
purchasing. Consider how a company can compete in a changing
market with a wide range of demands. Recognizing that there is a
potential market opening to be explored necessitates investigating the
processes required to make it happen.
4. What are some aspects to consider in location decisions? Give at least 3
and explain.

When looking for a business location, a business should have a clear picture
of what it have and what it want to have in future. Coming up with that picture
is a time-consuming process, which is both tedious and exciting – but there’s
a need to give it the attention that it deserves because it is one of the
important steps in starting a business.

Although many business mistakes can be corrected later, a bad location is

sometimes impossible to repair. Here are some other factors that a owner
should consider when choosing the best business location:

a. Demographics – are without a doubt, one of the most significant factors

to consider when choosing a business location. It’s important to to be
near your target customer group. For example, you don’t want to sell
gaming consoles in an area populated with older generations. The sells
will be higher in an area dense with your target market.

When considering demographics, the owner should think about two

important angles. First, he/she should think about who are the
customers are and how close they are to the location. This is critical,
speciallly for service providers and retailers but not so for other
businesses.

Secondly, the owner should consider your community. Is the customer

base local, and does a percentage of it support the business or match
the customer profile? When choosing communities that are largely
dependent on a specific industry, the business need to be careful
because a slump can be bad for business.

b. Competition – Are competing companies close by? This business

location factor is a double-edged sword. It creates both an advantage
and a disadvantage. For instance, if the location has a lot of surplus
customers because of your competitors, you might attract them as
well– an extra benefit for your business. However, it can also go in the
opposite direction – if both sides sell the same product, one team will
end up losing. When consumers are looking for very specific products,
 they understand that their choices may be limited, so they will probably
only visit one location.

c. Infrastructure and Accessibility – Good infrastructure is beneficial to

any kind of business. Power and water supply, good road connections
are just a few factors to consider when choosing a business location.

Lack of enough parking spaces for employees, or accessibility for

people with disabilities, can be an issue in some locations. A good
location for business,is usually not in a busy city area exclusions apply.
Nobody wants their employees to spend hours getting to work.
Therefore, choose a location that won’t cause any problems with daily
routines and tasks.

For the closer the products are to the customers, the higher the market value.
From planning future expansions, relocating to newer offices, or opening new
shops in the right location can mean many things for a business. For it doesn’t
matter even if you have the most exceptional product/service on earth, for if
you are located in the middle of nowhere, you won’t make much money. This
is why you it is important to conduct a business location analysis.

5. Why are layout decisions important? How can layout decisions

contribute to efficiency? How can bad layout discourage customers in a
service operation?

Layout is one of the key decisions that determines the long-run efficiency of
operations. It has strategic implications because it establishes an
organization’s competitive priorities in regard to capacity, processes, flexibility,
and cost, as well as quality of work life, customer contact, and image. An
effective layout can help an organization achieve a strategy that supports
differentiation, low cost, or response.
 The design and layout of a facility has a powerful impact on manufacturing
operations. An efficient layout can facilitate an increased flow of work,
information and material around the site. If a factory is not designed with
efficiency in mind, it can limit production, slow processes and impact overall
profitability.

A bad layout can discourages customers. It is a business responsibility to

ensure your customers enjoy a stress-free and pleasurable experience each
time they shop at one of your stores. This mans:

a. Making customers feel special as soon as they walk in the door

b. Making items easy to find
c. Encouraging sales associates to provide exceptional customer service
d. Making sure a long line and long wait time isn’t the last memory a
customer has when they leave the store.

It’s important to remember that everything a business do, from product

creation to check out, it should always cater to the needs of its customers. If
the first thing a customer sees when they come through the door is a long line
and it’s also the last thing they see when they leave, a business won’t have a
great relationship with that customer for long.

6. Explain the concept of work-life balance.

Work-life balance is a concept that describes an employee's ideal situation in

which time and energy can divide between work and other important aspects
of his or her life. It also includes the degree to which personal and work
activities in the life of the individual are prioritized and the degree to which
their jobs are related in the home.

According to Freethinker Paul Krassner, anthropologists often describe

happiness as having little or no distinction among the professional and
personal lives of an individual.
The common feature of a poor balance between working and living conditions
is, stress. Mental stress has been found to be important economic and health
in the information economy, health problem, causing by a perceived need of
employees to do more in less time.

Work-life balance reduces the experience of stress workers. If an employee

spends most of his or her days working and felt as if he or she neglected
other important aspects of life, stress and unhappiness result. An employee
who does not spend time on self-care ends up damaging their production and
productivity.

The workplace that makes it possible for employees to achieve a balance of

work-life motivates and satisfies their employees. And happy workers, who
achieve balance of work and life, tend to be more productive and stay with
their employer.

AYBS