IGNOU MBA MS-96 Solved Assignments July 2010
IGNOU MBA MS-96 Solved Assignments July 2010
ASSIGNMENT JULY 2010
Course Code : MS-96
Course Title : Total Quality Management
Assignment No. : 96/TMA/SEM-II/2010
Coverage : All blocks
Note: There are five questions in this assignment. Attempt all the questions and send them to the Coordinator of the Study Centre you are attached with.
1. TQM application has its limitations. Do you agree with this statement? Justify your answer giving examples.
Solution: Yes TQM application has its limitation.There are many imitation of total quality management as a tool for restructuring is its internal focus. The difficulty in identifying the "customer" for public sector goods and services and the focus on internal work processes make it hard to truly involve citizens in these TQM efforts. Both counties seek to identify external customer needs with surveys, and Tompkins County includes elected representatives on committees, but neither county includes citizens on committees. In Ontario County, citizen involvement in the TQM program is slightly greater than in Tompkins, since it includes an advisory council made up of a select group of local business owners.
TQM has limitations like anything else but they are not your normal limitations. Typically the process of TQM has no limitations it is the limitations of the employees who are implementing TQM principles. We as individuals have unique talents. These talents have an impact on initiating and maintaining a TQM environment. Every part of an organization is involved with the principles of TQM and as such individuals must understand their role and have the training to accomplish their responsibilities. Without this aspect the success of implementing a TQM environment will fail
The substantial cost of total quality management training and implementation as well as the time required to reap benefits are also limitations of total quality management as a tool for local government restructuring. Finally, because total quality management focuses primarily on internal work processes, policy about external factors is outside its purview. The inability to address broader policy issues may limit the ultimate impact of investments in total quality management.
Both middle managers and elected officials may resist the total quality management culture change because it devolves supervisory and decision-making power to TQM teams and committees. While middle managers and elected officials are formally involved in several levels of the TQM program in Tompkins County, they are absent from the committees in Ontario County, and have understandably been more resistant to the process. Middle managers may also fear for their jobs. Tompkins County is dealing with this issue by retaining middle managers as top-level technical employees and ensuring their representation on the TQM committees.
In operational zing the CI improvement philosophy, it is necessary for small businesses to understand that these TQM structures and methods are valuable because they aid in the team learning. However, the effective application of the TQM tools to help analyze data collected or to facilitate team-based interaction is only part of a team's ongoing learning experience. Of equal importance, however, is the realization that the use of TQM tools should unfold in a natural sequence as teams apply them in the improvement process. That is, it is important to emphasize that using the TQM tools in a rational and orderly fashion can improve the understanding of a problem and often leads to a better solution while extracting the highest level of collaboration and contribution from each of the CI team members.
The purpose of this paper is to describe and illustrate the process and results of a team-based application of TQM tools in a logical and orderly fashion within the guise of a structured approach to process improvement. First, major ideas and concepts associated with the TQM philosophy and its implementation are considered. second, some of the advantages and limitations associated with implementing TQM in small businesses are discussed. Third, the team-based reflections and results associated with the application of TQM concepts and tools to improve the service creation and delivery process in a small bakery are documented. Finally, the lessons learned from this experience in process improvement by the CI team are presented.
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2. Discuss in brief the philosophies of Deming and Juran and do the comparative assessment of the two.
Solution: Deming and Juran’s amazing lives paralleled each other in many ways. As youths, both experienced hard times. However, they overcame their humble beginnings, graduated from college, and embarked on their careers. Both Juran and Deming started off by working at Western Electric’s Hawthorne plant in Chicago, where they were influenced by the work of Walter Shewhart, a pioneer in statistical method. When World War II began, both men were active in the federal government’s wartime efforts. Employing his mathematician and statistician skills, Deming joined the Census Bureau and taught statistical methods to engineers and managers. Juran made marks by helping redesign critical supply processes in the Lend-Lease Administration.
After the war, Deming and Juran’s work attained worldwide recognition, and both received an invitation to work in Japan from the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers. Deming taught
Japanese engineers and top management statistical methods and how to view production as a
System that included suppliers and consumers. Juran delivered lectures in Japan about managing for quality. The teachings of Deming and Juran were greatly appreciated by the Japanese: both men were presented medals by the Emperor of Japan as high awards for their assistance.
Back on the home front, these pioneers’ careers continued on parallel courses. Both developed Deming provided a new and comprehensive theory for managing organizations and human enterprises. His description of production as a system of interrelationships between
Consumer research, design (and redesign), suppliers, materials,
Production, assembly, inspection, distribution, and consumers is an integral contribution. Deming believed that a system must have an aim, and that for an organization to be managed effectively (as a system), the aim must be clear to everyone.
Juran provided an analytical approach to managing for quality. He provided advice on quality
Planning, quality control, and quality improvement, and he advocated specific management practices to encourage and foster improvements in product and service. While Deming described a systematic view of the organization, Juran prescribed how to manage quality functions (a collection of such activities as market research, product design, product development, production, inspection, and sales).
Deming was a philosopher who desired to provide a new way to view the world. Juran was a
Practitioner who desired to teach people better management practices. Because of their different
Approaches, Deming’s work tends to appeal to theoretical-minded individuals, whereas Juran’s tends to appeal to the practical-minded.
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3. Explain giving examples as to how ISO standards can benefit the society.
Solution: ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest and foremost developer and publisher of international standards. Because the organization is present globally, and the name "International Organization for Standardization" would be abbreviated differently in different countries, the founders chose the name "ISO," derived from the Greek term "isos," which means "equal." ISO is a non-governmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and networks the regional standards institutes and regulatory bodies of 163 countries.
The ISO structure, with one member institute per country, bridges the gap between the public and private sectors and facilitates exchange of information between regulators and businesses. In many countries, the member institute is a governmental entity, whereas in other countries, the member institute is a private entity. This part public-part private structure in different parts of the world enables ISO to develop standards and solutions that benefit both the business sector and society as a whole, making sure that one entity's interests are not prioritized over another.
The ISO official site contends that "Standards make an enormous and positive contribution to most aspects of our lives." The importance of standards may be better appreciated when considering what would happen in its absence; when a product is made according to predefined standards and meets customer expectations, it is often taken for granted. However, in an environment without standards, people would very likely voice concerns about poor quality and unsafe products. Whether a business manufactures goods or provides services,when it meets standards relevant to its industry, it ensures that positive characteristics such as quality, durability, efficiency, safety and environmental friendliness are reinforced.
ISO standards benefit to society by safeguarding their interests and by ensuring that the products and services they purchase are safe and reliable. The standards also help to reduce environmental impact of business operations by publishing accepted levels of gas and radiation emission, and controlling the quality of water, air and soil. In addition, ISO standards drive the move toward sustainable productions processes; ISO synchronizes and aligns businesses to cleaner and safer production methods by laying down operational guidelines for different industries.
The ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families are among ISO's most widely known standards ever. The vast majority of ISO standards are highly specific to a particular product, material, or process. However, the standards that have earned the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families a worldwide reputation are known as "generic management system standards". "Generic" means that the same standards can be applied to any organization, large or small, whatever its product – including whether its "product" is actually a service – in any sector of activity, and whether it is a business enterprise, a public administration, or a government department. "Management system" refers to what the organization does to manage its processes, or activities. "Generic" also signifies that no matter what the organization is or does, if it wants to establish a quality management system or an environmental management system, then such a system has a number of essential features which are spelled out in the relevant standards of the ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 families.
ISO 9000 is concerned with "quality management". This means what the organization does to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer and applicable regulatory requirements and continually to improve its performance in this regard. ISO 14000 is primarily concerned with "environmental management". This means what the organization does to minimize harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities, and continually to improve its environmental performance.
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4. List out the conventional seven quality control tools. Explain any two in brief.
Solution: The Seven Basic Tools of Quality is a designation given to a fixed set of graphical techniques identified as being most helpful in troubleshooting issues related to quality. They are called basic because they are suitable for people with little formal training in statistics and because they can be used to solve the vast majority of quality-related issues The Seven Basic Tools stand in contrast with more advanced statistical methods such as survey sampling, acceptance sampling, statistical hypothesis testing, design of experiments, multivariate analysis, and various methods developed in the field of operations research
1. Histograms – This tool is used to determine the spread or variation of a set of data points in a graphical form. Just knowing there are variations in a process does not help to visualize those variations. Histograms provide this connection.
2. Flow Charts – Flow charts provide a visual picture of steps in a process or operation. Like histograms flow charts put a process into a picture format that helps visualize how a process works and all the steps from beginning to end. They help to identify possible redundancy or steps that may need to be refined to make a process more efficient and less costly. The best way to do a flow chart of a process is through a team made up of individuals inside and outside the process being flow charted. This way you get input from those that are not familiar with the process.
3. Scatter Diagrams – To identify correlations that might exist between a quality characteristic and a factor that might be driving it. Scatter diagrams help to connect the elements that are a force for quality characteristics in a process.
4. Pareto Charts – This tool is used to prioritize problems and decide what problems must be addressed first. This helps to utilize the resources necessary to get the greatest result on the most important issues facing a company.
5. Cause and effect diagrams – It is a tool which establishes a systematic graphic representation which helps to identify the root cause of problems. Cause and effect diagrams are a great resource to identify elements in a process and what may cause issues that need to be resolved.
6. Check sheets – Check sheets allow the collection of data from a process in a systematic and organized manner. This is a great tool to have some organization in collecting data for traceability purposes if nothing else. Data helps to identify how a process is working and where issues may need to be addressed if a process is trending toward being non-compliant to contractual or process requirements.
7. Control charts – This tools helps to identify when a process is in control and allows identification of process variation which can help prevent deficiencies in products being produced or manufactured.
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5. Suppose that you are working in an organization, which wants to develop an effective implementation methodology for ISO 9000 Quality Management System. How will you help your organization in developing an effective implementation methodology?
Solution: To help an organization implement an ISO 9000 quality management system you must first look at the requirements and establish which elements apply to your organization. The next requirement is to evaluate how your present operating system compares with the requirements for an ISO 9000 system. This involves not only the understanding of the requirements but how your company addresses the applicable elements. Detailed comparisons need to be made between the present system and where is lacks substance in addressing specific requirements. Many times elements in an ISO system only identifies what is required not how they are to be accomplished.
The methods for the implementation of an ISO 9000 quality system which I have identified above will be effective in addressing the necessary elements involved in an organization. Not all elements of ISO are applicable to all companies. As part of the plan it must identify the elements that were deemed to be not applicable and why. This will help to avoid questions by auditors who may audit your company for compliance to the standard.
Part of an implementation plan has other benefits in that it analyzes your current operations and how effective they are in achieving certain aspects identified in an ISO system. Simply performing an internal audit of a system only identifies the compliance or noncompliance factor to what has been established. In comparing a current system with an ISO system it helps to analyze a company system against elements which are commonplace in organizations who have an ISO system. This puts you on the same level as other organizations for the same type of product or service.
The key in all this is documentation and having a connection between the system processes and the manufacturing operations.
Once these actions have been completed a plan of action needs to be initiated in detail of how you will get your company or organization to an ISO 9000 system. The plan needs to specify where the organization is lacking and what is needed to bring it in compliance to ISO 9000. All departments and management must understand the requirements, where their department stands and the positive nature of having an ISO system.
Generating a plan of action also involves analyzing the language of procedures and instructions. This involves either rewriting them or updating them to address the elements it lacks to be in compliance.
The first level of change management is generic enough to apply to any type of change, whether it's the creation of a new department or the implementation of a new technology. At this generic level, change management methods are mostly targeted at understanding the human response to change and creating effective strategies for engaging people to achieve change.
The second level of change management includes methods that are specific to a particular change. For example, in technology implementations, specific actions include establishing and communicating the business case for change, ongoing relationship building, communication and training for affected staff, redesigning business processes, and creating and sustaining groups to manage the project. While some of these activities apply to other types of change, this collection forms a boilerplate for technology implementation.
This requires the manager/supervisor to listen and seriously consider suggestions. It is easy to see that there is a great deal of ego involvement in coming forth with an idea for improvement. Change can become an exciting and dynamic way of life. The manager/supervisor determines the climate in which they initiate change.
IDENTIFY THE SOURCES OF HELP
Why should you, the managers and supervisors, shoulder the burden alone? Staff can frequently be a great help in preparing to sell a change by explaining technical aspects and demonstrating new techniques. One of the most overlooked sources of help in introducing changes are the informal leaders in the work group. With their help the job becomes easier. Giving recognition to informal leaders puts them in a co?operative frame of mind. Since union stewards are often informal leaders, their co?operation ought to be solicited. The backing of union stewards makes the job easier.
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