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BA9203 – TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

UNIT 5: QUALITY SYSTEMS ORGANIZING AND IMPLEMENTATION
TQM CULTURE

+ Culture (often called corporate culture) is an organization’s value system and its collection of
guiding principles. Cultural values are often seen in the mission and vision statements of an
organization. Culture is a powerful influence on behavior because it is shared widely and operates
without being talked about, and indeed, often without being thought of.
+ Most firms – even Baldrige Award winners – have moved toward total quality because of
threats to their survival. When faced with a threat to survival, an organization effects change
more easily. However, leaders with foresight view TQ as an opportunity to get better, and to
maintain or improve existing market leadership positions. They don’t wait for a threatening
situation to change over to a TQM culture.
* The following may be considered some key aspects of a TQM culture:
[1] Visionary leadership, [2] Customer driven excellence, [3] Organizational and personal
learning, [4] Valuing employees as partners, [5] Agility, [6] Focus on the future, [7] Managing
for innovation, [8] Management by fact, [9] Social responsibility, [10] Focus on results and
creating value, and [11] Systems perspective. A brief explanation of these is given below:

[1] Visionary leadership: Leadership through continued top management support and enthusiasm
is one of the major contributing factors in developing a TQM culture.
[2] Customer-driven excellence: Customer requirements, both external and internal, are
paramount in a TQM culture. TQ views everyone inside the enterprise as a customer of an
internal or external supplier, and a supplier of an internal or external customer.
[3] Organizational and personal learning: A key aspect of TQM culture is to create a learning
environment where both the individuals and the organization learn and act based on that learning,
improving all the time. TQM culture provides an environment for taking the best ideas from
every source, internally and externally, and rethinking the who-what-when-where-why-how of all
processes for effecting continuous improvement.
[4] Valuing employees as partners: Besides systems and processes, people are needed to make
TQM work. TQM supports a culture where every employee has an opportunity to contribute not
only by doing their work, but also improving their work.
[5] Agility: Organizations must have the ability to respond quickly and flexibly to changing
customer needs, internal factors and changes in the business environment.
[6] Focus on the future: TQM culture enables a company to develop goals, a plan for achieving
those goals, and a working methodology for fulfilling that plan. TQM culture thus helps a
company to continue to grow, develop, and succeed.
[7] Managing for innovation: TQM culture expects and supports both incremental change and
breakthrough change, and this change is directed not only at what the company produces but also
how the company itself works internally and interfaces with the rest of the world.
[8] Management by fact: TQM culture requires the effective use of data to analyze business
issues. It uses measurement to discover opportunities, and drive improvements.
[9] Social responsibility: TQM culture not only emphasizes delivery of better products and
services, and growth in revenue and profitability, but also on being a good citizen in the
community.
[10] Focus on results and creating value: TQM culture breaks the barrier between quality and
business results by focusing directly on value-added processes. No project is considered complete
until the benefit has been shown.
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[11] Systems perspective: TQM efforts are expected to encompass the whole organization.
Processes may differ significantly, but all must be viewed from a system’s perspective and their
impact on and benefit to the ultimate customer.

LEADERSHIP FOR TQM

+ Everyone is responsible for quality, especially senior management and the CEO; however, only
the latter can provide the leadership system to achieve results. Strong leadership, especially from
senior managers, is absolutely necessary to develop and sustain a TQM culture. Leadership is
essential during every phase of the implementation process and particularly at the start.
+ Senior management’s role is no longer to make the final decision, but to make sure that the
team’s decision is aligned with the quality statements of the organization. Problem solving and
decision making are pushed to the lowest appropriate level by delegating authority and
responsibility.
+ Leaders empower employees to assume ownership of problems or opportunities, and to be
proactive in implementing improvements.
+ Effective leaders integrate their values into the company’s management system. The values
include trust and respect for individuals, openness, teamwork, integrity, and commitment to
quality. These become standards by which choices are made and create an organizational
structure in which quality is a routine part of activities and decisions throughout the organization.
+ Senior managers must be visibly and actively engaged in the quality effort by serving on teams,
and coaching teams. They must provide the needed resources to train employees in the TQM
tools and techniques, the technical requirements of the job, and safety.

* Major characteristics of quality leaders:

1. They give priority attention to external and internal customers and their needs. They also
continually evaluate the customers’ changing requirements.
2. They empower, rather than control, subordinates. They provide the resources, training, and
work environment to help subordinates do their jobs. They encourage initiative and risk-taking.
3. They emphasize improvement rather than maintaining the status quo. There is always room for
improvement, even if the improvement is small.
4. They emphasize prevention of problems rather than finding cures.
5. They encourage collaboration rather than competition among employees, work groups, and
departments within the organization.
6. They train and coach, rather than direct and supervise.
7. They continually try to improve communications, both downward and upward.
8. They encourage and recognize team effort.
9. They continually demonstrate their commitment to quality. They ‘walk their talk’.
10. They learn from problems, treating them as opportunities.
11. They take a long-term perspective and share their vision and values with employees, suppliers
and customers.
+ Thus leadership is the “driver” of the entire quality system. Without leadership, a total quality
initiative simply becomes a temporary fad, which is the major reason that total quality efforts fail
in many organizations.
+When we study the teachings of the quality gurus, we note that the higher levels of management
play an important role in TQM implementation. In fact, the management is solely responsible for
the success of TQM as it is responsible for selecting people, forming teams, providing resources,
and establishing and running the system in the organization.
+ An organization pursuing TQ needs both transformational leaders who establish visions, and
transactional leaders who manage the day-to-day tasks needed to achieve them.
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QUALITY COUNCIL

+ In order to build quality into the culture, a quality council is established to provide overall
direction. It is the driver for the TQM engine.
+ The quality council is composed of the chief executive officer (CEO), the senior managers and
managers of the various functional areas (design, marketing, finance, etc.), shop-floor personnel
from every area, a union representative, and a coordinator or consultant.
* Duties of the Quality Council:
1. Develop, with input from all personnel, the core values, vision statement, mission statement,
and quality policy statement.
2. Develop the strategic long-term plan with goals and the annual quality improvement program.
3. Create the total education and training plan.
4. Determine and continually monitor the cost of poor quality.
5. Determine the performance measures for the organization, approve those for the functional
areas, and monitor them.
6. Continually identify projects to improve processes, especially those that affect internal and
external customers.
7. Establish multifunctional, departmental, and work group teams and monitor their progress.
8. Establish/revise the recognition and reward system.
9. Establish a publicity plan for quality related activities (in-house journals, seminars, study tours)

+ Quality councils may be established at the corporate level, plant/unit level and divisional level.
The duties at lower levels are similar but relate to that particular level in the organization.
+ With the passage of time, the quality council activities will become so much a part of the
organizational culture that they will become redundant, i.e. a separate quality council becomes
unnecessary. Quality becomes the first item on the organization’s agenda.
EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT
+ The employees are the real strength of an organization. They are the prime contributors to its
success. Hence employee involvement is essential for the success of TQM efforts.
+ Employee involvement (EI) refers to any activity by which employees participate in work-
related decisions with the aim of tapping the creative energies of all employees and improving
their motivation.
+ The various levels of employee involvement is summarized in the following table. As total
quality matures in an organization, higher levels of employee involvement become evident.

Level Action Outcome

1. Information sharing Managers decide, then inform employees Conformance
2. Dialogue Managers get employee input, then decide Acceptance
3. Special problem Managers assign a one-time problem to selected Contribution
solving employees
4. Intra-group problem Intact groups meet weekly to solve local Commitment
solving problems
5. Inter-group problem Cross-functional groups meet to solve mutual Cooperation
solving problems
6. Focused problem Intact groups extend daily involvement in a Concentration
solving specific issue
7. Limited self-direction Team functions with minimum supervision Accountability
8. Total self-direction Executives facilitate self-management Ownership
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+ EI is rooted in the psychology of human needs and supported by the motivation models of
Maslow, Herzberg, and McGregor. Employees are motivated through exciting work,
responsibility, and recognition. EI provides a powerful means of achieving the highest order
individual needs of self-realization and fulfillment, thereby improving employee morale and
commitment, with resultant improvements in quality and productivity.
+ One of the easiest ways to promote employee involvement is the suggestion system. It is a
management tool for the submission, evaluation, and implementation of an employee’s idea to
save cost, increase quality, or improve other elements of work such as safety.
+ Major factors contributing to employee involvement are: motivation, compensation, recognition
& reward system, working environment, organization culture and climate, leadership,
empowerment, teamwork, training and mentoring.

MOTIVATION

+ Motivation may be defined as an individual’s response to a felt need. Thus, some stimulus, or
activating agent, must spur the need to respond to that stimulus.
+ As managers in a TQ environment take on the roles of coaches and facilitators, their skills in
motivating employees become very crucial. Since no two individuals are alike in their
personalities, attitudes, and capabilities, motivation is a challenging task.

* A classification of major motivation theories:

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Motivation theory Developer Type of theory

Content theories
Hierarchy of Needs Abraham Maslow Need
Motivation and Hygiene Frederick Herzberg Motivators, dissatisfiers
Theory X-Y Douglas McGregor Managerial expectations
n-Ach, n-Aff, n-Pow David McClelland Acquired need

Process theories
Preference-Expectancy Victor H. Vroom Expectancy
Contingency Porter and Lawler Expectancy/reward
Path-Goal theory Robert J. House Goal

Environmentally based theories

Operant Conditioning B.F. Skinner Reinforcement
Equity J. Stacy Adams Equity

* Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

+ Maslow’s hierarchy consists of physical (survival), security, social, esteem, and self-
actualization needs. Once a given level is satisfied, it ceases to be a motivator, and the next higher
level need becomes the motivator.
+ Level 1 needs of food, clothing, and shelter are usually provided by a job. Level 1 needs also
include a conducive working environment such as proper lighting, ventilation, fan, A/C, etc.
+ Level 2 (security) can mean a safe place to work and job security. It also includes having
privacy on the job such as separate cabin, lockable storage for personal items, etc.
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+ Level 3 (social) needs involve giving a person the opportunity to be part of a group. Employees
should also be provided with both formal social areas such as conference rooms and cafeterias,
and informal areas such as water coolers and bulletin boards. Being a member of a team is a good
way to meet the social needs of an individual.
+ Level 4 (esteem) needs: Everyone, regardless of position or nature of job, wants to be
recognized as a person of value to the organization. Provision of business cards, separate work
space, office protocols, etc. provides employees with a certain level of self-esteem.
+ Level 5 (self-actualization) says that individuals must be given the opportunity to go as far as
their abilities will take them. In this regard, many organizations have a policy of promoting from
within.
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory:
+ He found that people were motivated by recognition, responsibility, achievement, and the work
itself (motivators), while bad feelings were associated with low salary, minimal fringe benefits,
poor working conditions, etc. (dissatisfiers or hygiene factors). Thus, dissatisfiers are often
extrinsic in nature and motivators are intrinsic.
+ In general, dissatisfiers must be taken care of before motivators can be actuated.
+ Some strategies to achieve a motivated workforce: [1] Know your employees, [2] Establish a
positive attitude among the workforce, [3] Share the goals, [4] Develop interesting work; through
job rotation, job enlargement, job enrichment, etc. [5] Celebrate success.

EMPOWERMENT
+ The dictionary definition of empowerment is to invest people with authority. Its purpose is to
tap the enormous reservoir of potential contribution that lies within every worker.
+ Empowerment requires a sincere belief and trust in people. It involves employees directly in
decision-making processes, giving them the security and confidence to make decisions, and
providing them with the necessary tools and training.
+ Example: At Motorola, sales representatives have the authority to replace defective products up
to six years after purchase, a decision that previously required top management approval.
+ Empowered employees must have the wisdom to know what to do and when to do it, the
motivation to do it, and the right tools to accomplish the task.
* Major features of an empowered environment: 1] Employees are provided education,
resources, and encouragement. 2] Policies and procedures are examined for needless
restrictions on employees. 3] An atmosphere of trust is fostered rather than resentment and
punishment for failure. 4] Information is shared freely rather than closely guarded as a source of
control and power. 5] Managers are encouraged to adopt a “hands-off” leadership style. 6]
Employees are trained in the amount of initiative/risk they can take.
+ Empowerment also means that leaders and managers must give up some of the power that they
previously held. This power shift often creates fears in managers that workers will abuse this
privilege. However, experience shows that front-line workers are generally more conservative
than managers.
+ Empowerment gives managers new responsibilities. They must hire and develop people capable
of handling empowerment, encourage risk taking, and recognize achievements. Giving employees
information about company finances and the financial implications of empowered decisions is
also important.
+ Empowerment is a prerequisite for flat organization. Quality cannot be achieved in a flat
organization without empowerment.
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+ Characteristics of empowered employees: [1] They feel responsible for their own task. [2]
They are given a free hand in their work. [3] They balance their own goals with those of their
organization. [4] They are well trained, equipped, creative, and customer oriented. [5] They are
critical, have self-esteem, and are motivated. [6] They monitor and improve their work
continuously. [7] They constantly seek new goals and challenges.
+ Benefits of empowerment: [1] It builds confidence in workers by showing them that the
company has confidence in their ability to make decisions on their own. [2] It generates
commitment and pride in employees. [3]It gives employees better experience and an opportunity
to advance their careers. [4] It benefits customers by reducing bureaucratic red tape that
customers encounter – such as seeking a superior’s approval/signature – which makes customer
transactions speedier and more pleasant.

RECOGNITION AND REWARD

+ Recognition is a form of employee motivation in which the organization publicly

acknowledges the positive contributions an individual or team has made to the success of the
organization. Reward is something tangible such as a cash award, plaque, certificate, special
dinner, theatre tickets, etc. to promote desirable behavior. Recognition and reward go together to
form a system for letting people know they are valuable members of the organization. They can
be monetary or non-monetary, formal or informal, individual or group.
+ The recognition and reward system must have clear recognition criteria. Policies and
procedures must be consistently and fairly applied throughout the organization. Recognition
should be valid, genuine, and meaningful for the giver and the recipient; it should not be used to
manipulate people.
+ In the selection of individuals/teams to be recognized or rewarded, employees should be
involved along with the manager(s), and sometimes the customer and supplier too.
+ While the reward may be delayed until an appropriate time, the recognition should be on a
timely basis. Rewards should be appropriate to the improvement level – the greater the
improvement, the greater the reward. They should also be perceived to be of value.
+ Individual rewards include cash awards, gift certificates, dinner out, event tickets, trips, etc.
Group rewards are similar and can also include an outing, group lunch or dinner, allowing the
team to make some decisions affecting their work, etc.
+ People like to be recognized, either as a team or individually. A person’s feeling of
achievement, value to the organization, knowing the organization cares, and having peer
recognition may be more important than any reward. In addition to the plaque or certificate given
at a formal function, other forms of recognition include name/picture on the bulletin board,
articles in newsletters,/journals, letters to families, personal phone calls or notes, increased
responsibility, and on-the-spot praise.
* Benefits of a successful recognition and reward system: [1] Improves employees’ morale.
[2] Creates a satisfied workplace. [3] Creates a motivated work force. [4] Stimulates creative
efforts.

ISO 9000 STANDARDS

*ISO 9000 are a set of quality standards aimed at promoting the growth of international trade by
facilitating harmonious interactions between suppliers and customers located in diverse locations
globally. It is a quality management system [QMS] to ensure quality of products and services.
* ISO stands for ‘International Organization for Standardization’ and is headquartered at Geneva,
Switzerland. Though ISO has released numerous standards pertaining to individual products and
services since its creation in 1946, the ISO 9000 series is a set of generic standards applicable to
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all types of organizations, products, and services as a means of implementing best quality
practices.
* ISO is a global association of national standards bodies of more than 150 countries. India is
represented by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
* The first version of ISO 9000 was published in 1987, the second version came out in 1994, and
the third (current) version (ISO 9000:2000) was released in the year 2000.
* ISO 9000 definition of Quality Management System: “The organizational structures,
responsibilities, processes, procedures, and resources used for implementing quality”.
QMS involves: How – methods, processes; Who – responsibilities, authorities; When – records,
evidence; Where – identification, traceability.
* Scope of ISO 9000 standards:
ISO 9000: 2000 Quality Management Systems: Fundamentals and Vocabulary

ISO 9001: 2000

ISO 9002: 2000 Quality Management Systems: Requirements
ISO 9003: 2000

ISO 9004: 2000 Quality Management Systems: Performance Improvement Guidelines

The scope of the 9001, 9002, and 9003 standards varies as follows:
ISO 9001: 2000 Design, development, procurement, production, installation, & servicing
ISO 9002: 2000 Procurement, production, and installation
ISO 9003: 2000 Production only.

* The underlying philosophy behind the ISO 9000: 2000 standards is: “Say what you will do, Do
as you said, and Prove that you did what you said.” Thus, documents and record keeping are an
important aspect of ISO 9000: 2000.
* ISO 9004: 2000 provides guidelines for companies which wish to go beyond ISO 9000 and
establish a quality management system that not only meets customer requirements, but also
focuses on improving performance. ISO 9004: 2000 is not a requirement and does not lead to
certification.

* The 20 elements of ISO 9000 quality system:

[1] Management responsibility, [2] Quality system, [3] Contract review, [4] Design control, [5]
Document control, [6] Purchasing, [7] Purchaser supplied product, [8] Product identification and
traceability, [9] Process control, [10] Inspection & testing, [11] Inspection, measuring and test
equipment, [12] Inspection & test status, [13] Control of nonconforming products, [14]Corrective
and preventive action, [15] Handling, packaging, storage, and delivery, [16] Control of quality
records, [17] Internal quality audit, [18] Training, [19] Servicing, and [20] Statistical techniques.

* Steps in obtaining ISO 9000 certification:

[1]Top management commitment,[2]Appoint management representative,[3]Awareness program,
[4]Implementation team,[5]Training,[6]Time schedule,[7]Select the process owners,[8]Review
present system,[9]Prepare the documents,[10]Install the new system,[11]Internal audit,
[12]Management review, [13]Pre-assessment, [14]Registration, and [15] Award of ISO 9000.
* Types of documents found in ISO 9000 system:
1) Quality Policy Manual (What? Why?)
2) Quality System Procedures (Who? When? Where?)
3) Work Instructions (How?)
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4) Records, formats, forms (Evidence).

* The eight quality principles underlying ISO 9000: 2000:

[1] Customer focus, [2] Leadership, [3] Involvement of people, [4] Process approach, [5] System
approach to management, [6] Continuous improvement, [7] Decisions based on facts, and
[8] Mutually beneficial supplier relationships.
(Many of these principles are similar to Deming’s 14 Points).

QUALITY AUDITS:
* Definition of quality system audit: “a systematic, independent examination to determine
whether quality activities and results comply with planned arrangements, whether these
arrangements are implemented effectively, and whether these are suitable to achieve objectives”.

Types of audit: First party audit (internal), Second party audit (by customer), and Third party
audit (by independent agency).
Another classification: System audit, Process audit, Product audit, Adequacy audit, and
Compliance audit.

* Stages in conducting quality audit:

1. Audit planning – schedules, personnel, notifications, checklist.
2. Performance – opening meetings, audit process, noting of non-conformities.
3. Reporting – Observations, suggestions for corrective action
4. Follow-up – implementation of corrective action.

* Checklists for conducting quality audit:

1] Whether the system to ensure quality has been established.
2] Whether the system is documented.
3] Whether the documented system meets requirements.
4] Whether the system is implemented as documented.
5] Whether the system is effective in achieving the organization’s objectives and goals.

INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE QUALITY

Computer software, or just software is a general term used to describe the role that
computer programs, procedures and documentation play in a computer system. It's the
intangible part of the computer system, meaning it cannot be touched.

The term includes:

• Application software, such as word processors which perform productive tasks for
users.
• Firmware, which is software programmed resident to electrically programmable
memory devices on board mainboards or other types of integrated hardware
carriers.
• Middleware, which controls and co-ordinates distributed systems.
• System software such as operating systems, which interface with hardware to
provide the necessary services for application software.
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• Software testing is a domain dependent of development and programming.

Software testing consists of various methods to test and declare a software
product fit before it can be launched for use by either an individual or a group.
• Testware, which is an umbrella term or container term for all utilities and
application software that serve in combination for testing a software package but
not necessarily may optionally contribute to operational purposes. As such,
testware is not a standing configuration but merely a working environment for
application software or subsets thereof.

Software includes things such as websites, programs or video games, that are coded by
programming languages like C or C++.

"Software" is sometimes used in a broader context to mean anything which is not

hardware but which is used with hardware, such as film, tapes and records.

Computer software is often regarded as anything but hardware, meaning that the "hard"
are the parts that are tangible while the "soft" part is the intangible objects inside the
computer. Software encompasses an extremely wide array of products and technologies
developed using different techniques like programming languages, scripting languages,
microcode, or an FPGA configuration. The types of software include web pages
developed by technologies like HTML, PHP, Perl, JSP, ASP.NET, XML, and desktop
applications like OpenOffice, Microsoft Word developed by technologies like C, C++,
Java, C#, or Smalltalk. Software usually runs on an underlying software operating
systems such as the Linux or Microsoft Windows. Software also includes video games
and the logic systems of modern consumer devices such as automobiles, televisions, and
toasters.

Practical computer systems divide software systems into three major classes: system
software, programming software and application software, although the distinction is
arbitrary, and often blurred.

System software

System software helps run the computer hardware and computer system. It includes a
combination of the following:

• device drivers
• operating systems
• servers
• utilities
• windowing systems

The purpose of systems software is to unburden the applications programmer from the
often complex details of the particular computer being used, including such accessories
as communications devices, printers, device readers, displays and keyboards, and also to
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partition the computer's resources such as memory and processor time in a safe and stable
manner. Examples are- Windows XP, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Programming software

Programming software usually provides tools to assist a programmer in writing computer

programs, and software using different programming languages in a more convenient
way. The tools include:

• compilers
• debuggers
• interpreters
• linkers
• text editors

An Integrated development environment (IDE) is a single application that attempts to

manage all these functions.

Application software

Application software allows end users to accomplish one or more specific (not directly
computer development related) tasks. Typical applications include:

• industrial automation
• business software
• computer games
• quantum chemistry and solid state physics software
• telecommunications (i.e., the internet and everything that flows on it)
• databases
• educational software
• medical software
• military software
• molecular modeling software
• image editing
• spreadsheet
• simulation software
• Word processing
• Decision making software

Software product quality

In the context of software engineering, software quality measures how well software is
designed (quality of design), and how well the software conforms to that design (quality
of conformance), although there are several different definitions.
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Whereas quality of conformance is concerned with implementation (see Software Quality

Assurance), quality of design measures how valid the design and requirements are in
creating a worthwhile product.

• Product quality
o conformance to requirements or program specification; related to
Reliability
• Scalability
• Correctness
• Completeness
• Absence of bugs
• Fault-tolerance
o Extensibility
o Maintainability
• Documentation

Source code quality

A computer has no concept of "well-written" source code. However, from a human point
of view source code can be written in a way that has an effect on the effort needed to
comprehend its behavior. Many source code programming style guides, which often
stress readability and usually language-specific conventions are aimed at reducing the
cost of source code maintenance. Some of the issues that affect code quality include:

• Readability
• Ease of maintenance, testing, debugging, fixing, modification and portability
• Low complexity
• Low resource consumption: memory, CPU
• Number of compilation or lint warnings
• Robust input validation and error handling, established by software fault injection.

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