Operations Management - Lesson 3

LEADERSHIP AND
COMMITMENT
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
THE TOTAL QUALITY
MANAGEMENT APPROACH
 TQM is an approach to improving the
competitiveness, effectiveness and flexibility of a
whole organization. It is essentially a way of
planning, organizing and understanding each
activity, and depends on each individual at each
level. For an organization to be truly effective, each
part of it must work properly together towards the
same goals, recognizing that each person and each
activity affects and in turn is affected by others.
THE TOTAL QUALITY
MANAGEMENT APPROACH
 TQM is also a way of ridding people’s lives of
wasted effort by bringing everyone into the
processes of improvement, so that results are
achieved in less time. The methods and
techniques used in TQM can be applied
throughout any organization. They are equally
useful in manufacturing, public service, health
care, education and hospitality industries.
THE TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
APPROACH
The managements of many firms may think that their scale of operation is
not sufficiently large, that their resources are too slim or that the need for
action is not important enough to justify implementing TQM. Before
arriving at such a conclusion, however, they should examine their existing
performance by asking the following questions:
 Is any attempt made to assess the costs arising from errors, defects,
waste, customer complaints, lost sales, etc.? If so, are these costs
minimal or insignificant?
 Is the standard of management adequate and are attempts being made to
ensure that quality is given proper consideration at the design stage?

 Are the organization’s quality management systems – documentation,
processes, operations, etc. – in good order?

 Have people been trained in how to prevent errors and problems? Do
they anticipate and correct potential causes of problems, or do they find

and reject?
THE TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
APPROACH
 Are subcontract suppliers being selected on the basis of the quality of their
people and services as well as price?
 Do job instructions contain the necessary quality elements, are they kept up
to date and are employers doing their work in accordance with them?
 What is being done to motivate and train employees to do work right first
time?
 How many errors and defects, and how much wastage occurred last year? Is
this more or less than the previous year?

If satisfactory answers can be given to most of these questions, an
organization can be reassured that it is already well on the way to using
adequate quality management. Even so, it may find that the introduction of
TQM causes it to reappraise activities throughout. If answers to the above
questions indicate problem areas, it will be beneficial to review the top
management’s attitude to quality. Time and money spent on quality-related
activities are not limitations of profitability; they make significant
contributions towards greater efficiency and enhanced profits.
COMMITMENT AND POLICY
To be successful in promoting business effectiveness
and efficiency, TQM must be truly organization-wide, it
must include the supply chain and it must start at the top
with the chief executive or equivalent. The most senior
directors and management must all demonstrate that they
are serious about quality. The middle management has a
particularly important role to play, since they must not
only grasp the principles of TQM, they must go on to
explain them to the people for whom they are responsible,
and ensure that their own commitment is communicated.
COMMITMENT AND POLICY
Only then will TQM spread effectively throughout the
organization. This level of management also needs to
ensure that the efforts and achievements of their
subordinates obtain the recognition, attention and reward
that they deserve.
One of the major challenges in project work, including
consultancy, is the need to influence the values and
behaviors of the entire delivery team. To be successful
the project manager needs to select the project team on
the basis of the fit in values as well as on their technical
competence and costs.
THE QUALITY POLICY
Management should be dedicated to the regular
improvement of quality, not simply a one-step
improvement to an acceptable plateau. These ideas can be
set out in a quality policy that requires top management to:
 Identify the end customer’s needs (including perception).
 Assess the ability of the organization to meet these needs
economically.
 Ensure that any bought-in materials meet the required
standards of performance and efficiency.

 Ensure that subcontractors or suppliers share your values
and process goals.

THE QUALITY POLICY
 Concentrate on the prevention rather than detection philosophy.
 Educate and train for quality improvement and ensure that your
subcontractors do so as well.
 Measure customer satisfaction at all levels, the end customer as
well as customer satisfaction between the links of the supply chain.

 Review the quality management systems to maintain progress.
The quality policy should be the concern of all employees, and the
principles and objectives communicated as widely as possible so that
it is understood at all levels of the organization and within the
subcontract supply chain on construction projects. Practical
assistance and training should be given, where necessary, to ensure
the
CREATING OR CHANGING THE
CULTURE
The culture within an organization is formed by
a number of components:
 Behaviors based on people interactions.
 Norms resulting from working groups.
 Dominant values adopted by the organization.
 Rules of the game for ‘getting on.’
 The climate.
CULTURE
Culture in any ‘business’ may be defined then as how business
is conducted and how employees behave and are treated. Any
organization needs a vision framework that includes its guiding
philosophy, core values and beliefs and a purpose. These should
be combined into a mission, which provides a vivid description of
what things will be like when it has been achieved.
The guiding philosophy drives the organization and is shaped
by the leaders through their thoughts and actions. It should reflect
the vision of an organization rather than the vision of a single
leader and should evolve with time, although organizations must
hold on to the core elements.
CULTURE
The core values and beliefs represent the organization’s basic principles
about what is important in business, its conduct, its social responsibility
and its response to changes in the environment. They should act as a
guiding force, with clear and authentic values, which are focused on
employees, suppliers, customers, society at large, safety, shareholders and
generally stakeholders.
The purpose of the organization should be a development from the
vision and core values and beliefs and should quickly and clearly convey
how the organization is to fulfilL its role.
The mission will translate the abstractness of philosophy into tangible
goals that will move the organization forward and make it perform to its
optimum. It should not be limited by the constraints of strategic analysis
and should be proactive not reactive. Strategy is subservient to mission, the
strategic analysis being done after, not during, the mission setting process.
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
Effective leadership and total quality management result in the
company or organization doing the right things, right first time.
The five requirements for effective leadership are the following.
1. Developing and publishing clear documented corporate
beliefs and purpose – a vision
2. Develop clear and effective strategies and supporting plans
for achieving the vision
3. Identify the critical success factors and critical processes
4. Review the management structure
5. Empowerment – encouraging effective employee
participation

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LEADERSHIP AND

ensure that quality is given proper consideration at the design stage?

processes, operations, etc. – in good order?

they anticipate and correct potential causes of problems, or do they ﬁnd

this more or less than the previous year?

standards of performance and efﬁciency.

and process goals.

well as customer satisfaction between the links of the supply chain.

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