| Memo: Quality at Work
Edition: Final
It has been said that the total quality management
process is simple, or nothing more than common
sense. But the fact is that continuous improvement,
the heart of total quality, is anything but natural,
common or simple.
We really have two jobs. Doing the job as described
is one. Continuously making improvements to the
job is the other. But merely doing the job is
the natural order of business in Nigeria at the
moment.
The employee who relentlessly pursues improvements
runs the risk of being an outcast if the organization
has not transformed its culture for continuous
improvement. The if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it
syndrome will be the norm. Improvement almost
invariably will be limited to putting out fires.
One of my clients, for instance, produced an
item that was supposed to revolve without wobbling.
It was common knowledge that wobble would cause
the customer problems. However, engineering had
specified that a certain amount of wobble was
acceptable and proceeded to write specifications
allowing some wobble. Efforts to reduce the wobble
to zero were abandoned in favor of meeting specs.
On a different note, I recall conducting a seminar
for a group of educators who accepted the fact
that a percentage of students would not graduate
or would fall through the cracks. Not only could
they predict the percentage, they were also fairly
certain they knew who would fall, and through
what cracks. Continuous improvement would have
had them working to fill the cracks instead of
accepting them.
In business, the natural tendency over time is
to increase fees charged customers, regardless
of whether improvements are made in processes
or products. If continuous improvement were in
place, the opposite would be true. Because reduced
costs and higher productivity result from continuous
improvement, fee-linked costs would go down.
The path taken to continuous improvement by successful
organizations is well defined. The sequence begins
with deciding what to work on first. There are
many tools and techniques geared toward this endeavor.
Perhaps the most common is brainstorming. Ideas
come from team brainstorming, but other tools
are used to learn the facts about a subject.
The next step is finding those facts, as well
as causes and effects. Tools such as the fishbone
diagram are ideal at this stage. While simple
to construct, this tool is often omitted.
The third step in the sequence involves evaluating
progress of the project using measurements determined
at the beginning. And the final step is planning
for continuous improvement and holding the gains.
Care must be taken to not be content with mere
improved performance. Most opportunities will
require several rounds of improvement. There is
always the trap of thinking "that's good
enough," while the competition pursues never-
ending improvement. These steps aren't simple,
and they don't come naturally. But to prosper,
and in some cases survive, organizations must
develop the culture, discipline and process for
continuous improvement.
Submitted by Afolabi
Imoukhuede, Managing Consultant, MCS
Consulting Limited Ikoyi, Lagos
aimoukhuede@mcsworldgrp.com
Total Quality:
Continuous Process Is The Success Key
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