Homework Assignment 2

Due Date: March 6, 2016

IE 673 Total Quality Management (eLearning)
1.

Discuss the importance of quality partnering and strategic alliances

The importance of quality partnering or strategic alliances is very simple, because you as part of a
partnership or alliances will have to think of its working together for a mutual benefit to achieve
total quality and for the benefit of all parties. Under partnership or alliances your company can be
more accurate, more helpful to meet the clients needs. As partners will help you understand the
problems and create new solutions for them. Partnering is a team but sometimes all partiers might
be not under the same company name and that is very common. The text book have an example of
a shoes maker company that does not have partner and the suppliers cannot help them to meet the
customers requirements, otherwise as a partners will be easier to achieve the goals. Below show a
model of partnership.
Develop a Partnering
Briefing

Form the Partnership

Team

Identify Potential
Partnering

Develop a Mission
Statement

Identify Key Decision

Makers

Conduct a Partnering
Briefing
Develop Objective
Determine the Level of
Commitment

Decide Whether
There is
Sufficient
Commitment

YES
Identify Key Operational
Personnel

NO

Prioritize Objective and

Begin

2.

Discuss the various forms of quality partnering and strategic alliances

Exist various forms of quality partnering and strategic alliances. According to the text book there
is 5 ways and they are as follow. Internal partnering that should begin at home (your own company)
operates on three levels: management to-employee partnerships, team-to-team partnerships, and
employee-to-employee partnerships. Other is supplier partnership, is used to create and maintain
loyal, trusting relationships that will allow both partners to win, while promoting the continuous
improvement of quality, productivity, and competitiveness. Customer partnerships that focus in
customer satisfaction. Partnering with Potential Competitors will help to enhance their quality,
productivity and competiveness. Global Partnering help you to know others cultures and futures
customers if their company want to be international. And Education and Business Partnerships
help organizations continually improve their people and how well they interact with process
technologies. (Goetsch, David L.; Davis, Stanley (2012-06-19). Quality Management for
Organizational Excellence: Introduction to Total Quality (Page 79). Pearson Education. Kindle
Edition.).

3.

Discuss the importance of quality culture

According to the text book an organizations culture is the everyday manifestation of its underlying
values and traditions. (Goetsch, David L.; Davis, Stanley (2012-06-19). Quality Management for
Organizational Excellence: Introduction to Total Quality (Page 82). Pearson Education. Kindle
Edition.) A good quality culture should have their employees with cultural role models, values,
business environment, organizational rites, rituals and customs, and cultural transmitter. In other
words their employees should feel happy and motivated to do their job. If your company have an
excellent quality culture will show this in the employees behavior.

4.

Explain the difference between traditional and modern quality cultures

According to the text book the differences will be most noticeable in following areas below.

Traditional Modern
Operating Philosophy

the primary focus is return

on investment and shortterm profits

the core of the operating

philosophy is customer
satisfaction

Objectives

typically adopt shot-term

objectives

develop both long-and

short-term objectives

Management Approach

managers think and

employees do

managers are seen as

coaches of the team

Attitude Toward
Customers

tend to look inward

customer focus

most valable player

(MVP/heroe), and play the
"waiting game"
suppliers are kept at arm's
lenght in realationship that
are often adversarial

goal is create solution not

heroes

Problem-solving
Approach
Supplier Relationships

Performanceimprovement Approach

5.

performance improvement is
an erratic, reactive
undertaking that is typically
triggered by problems

suppliers are view as a

partners
continual improvement of
processes, people,
products, the working
environment, and every
other factor that affects
performance is at the very
core of the operating
philosophy

How do you understand who is a customer?

According to the text book a customer could be inside or outside of the company. The outsiders
are the ones that used the companys products, and suppliers were outsiders who provided the
materials needed to produce the products. The internal customer is any employee whose work
depends on that. Those are the ones that produced the product have been viewed as customers.

6.

Explain customer defined value, value analysis and retention.

The defined value as the sum of customers perceptions of product or service quality, service
provided by the organization, organization personnel and image, and selling price and overall cost

of the product or service. The value analysis is a process used to determine what is important to
customers. This process depend between businesses. Customer retention when the customer is
satisfied and this is the most fundamental cornerstone of total quality. Any organization should
focus to be better able to satisfy its customers.
7.

Discuss product innovation models for customer retention.

Organizations want always retain their customers over the long term. To accomplish that they start
innovating their products and services. This is how organizations continually improve and cost of
their product as well as quality of services. Also they reduce cost of doing business while increase
the volume of business. Customers are the one that help organizations to achieve that when they
give them feedbacks or complaints.5. How do you understand who is a customer?

8.

Discuss employee empowerment

Employee empowerment is when a manager give to the employees the ownership of the processes
they are responsible for a product or services. To get total quality employees should be empowered.
According to the text book is when you ownership a process that creates a sense of urgency to
continually improve processes, products, and services. To achieve management must provide an
open mine and creative environment that encourage employee involvement in their jobs but that
does not mean abdication of power. Managers should give employees the confident to feel part of
the company as a facilitator and leader not as a boss.

9.

Discuss leadership for quality

According to the text book leadership is a tangible concept that produces tangible results and can
be defined in many different ways. Leadership is the ability to inspire people to make a total
commitment to accomplishing organizational goals. The picture below said a good difference
between leader and a boss.

10. How to lead for a better quality change?

To lead for a better quality change leaders in any organization required to coaches employees, give
credits, say lets go to get the changes. The following figure show a change facilitation model from
the text book.

Develop the
Change Picture

Communicate
the Change
Picture

Conduct the
Roadblock
Analysis

Remove or
Mitigate
Roadblocks

Implement

Monitor and
Adjust

Social Networking Articles

Discussion Article 1: Homework Assignment 2

Heres the Scoop: Why My First Job Mattered

This is President Barack Obama telling us about his first job in Baskin Robbins. He is telling how
difficult is for young people to get their first job in summers. A lot of young people of the ages of
16-24 needs a summer job to save to collage or for their needs. In the article say that is very difficult
to ask for a job with a blank resume or with the responsibility of school. Also it say about
experiences of others like him, they work and study at the same time. This young man is asking
for help to the companies all over the country to give young people the opportunity to get a job.

Reference: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heres-scoop-why-my-first-job-mattered-presidentbarack-obama?trk=eml-mktg-inf-m-career-launch-0301-cta-p1

Discussion Article 2: Homework Assignment 2

Before I Became a Stylist, I Sold Shoes at the Mall. Here's What I Learned.

This article is about a person telling us the experience of her first job as a shoe seller in Nine West.
She was saying how good it felt being the best seller and doing a great job. Also while working
there she learned her weaknesses, like working with money and numbers. At the end she shared
the advice of the importance of doing a good job no matter where you work or how much you earn,
it is the beginning of the future.

Reference: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/before-i-became-stylist-sold-shoes-mall-heres-whatlearned-rachel-zoe

Discussion Article 3: Homework Assignment 2

Dream Big But Be Humble: Lessons That Led Me from the Factory Floor to the Executive Floor

This article talks about how humble after going through a bad experience. The author, an engineer,
says that when he began working as an engineer he knew everything. His boss gave him the
opportunity to present a project to the boss then answered his presentation did not understand that
he was talking about. As time passed before he understood that he knows everything believed to
be an engineer realized that we must be humble and learn from people who are doing the work
before you. No matter how much you know in some area specific one you should never assume
that you know everything and learn from others. In addition always I remember a boss of mine
who told me " never serves in face anyone you're an engineer, do not do that.

Este articulo trata de cmo se humilde despus de pasar por una mala experiencia. El autor,
ingeniero, cuenta que cuando comenzo a trabajar como ingeniero el saba todo. Su jefe le dio la
oportunidad para presentar un proyecto a lo que el jefe le contesto luego de su presentacin que
no entenda de que estaba hablando. Al pasar el tiempo el entendi que antes de creerse que sabe
todo por ser ingeniero se dio cuenta que hay que ser humilde y aprender de las personas que estn
haciendo el trabajo antes que t. No importa lo mucho que uno sepa en alguna rea en especfico
uno nunca debe asumir que se lo sabe todo y debes de aprender de los dems. En adicin siempre
recuerdo a un jefe mo que me dijo nunca le saques en cara a nadie que eres ingeniero, eso no se
hace.

Reference:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dream-big-humble-lessons-led-me-from-factoryfloor-ralph-de-la-vega?trk=eml-mktg-inf-m-career-launch-0301-cta-p3