Kokulan Vanniyasingam | Total Quality Management |

April 28, 2017

Chapters 1-4

TQM
1. What is quality?
The definition of quality really depends on the role of the people defining it.
Most consumers have a difficult time defining quality, but they know it when they see it.
Quality is about meeting the minimum standard required to satisfy customer needs.
In today's standard, there is no single universal definition of quality. Some people view
quality as "performance to standards", while others view it as "meeting the customer's
needs or satisfying the customers."
Although, there is no universal accepted definition of quality, these commons elements
do have similarity to quality:
Quality involves meeting or exceeding customer expectations.
Quality applies to products, services, people, processes, and environments.
Quality is an ever-changing state (i.e., what is considered quality today may not be
good enough to be considered quality tomorrow)

2. What is TQM?
TQM is an approach to doing business that attempts to maximize the competitiveness of
an organization through continual improvement of the quality of its products, services,
people, processes, and enviroments.
How total quality can be achieved:

Source: (Goetsch, David L and Stanley Davis, 2014, P. 3)

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3. How can we achieve organizational excellence with quality?
Organizational excellence with quality can be achieved by increasing the level of
performance necessary for long-term success in a global environment. It is also necessary
to consistently provide superior value to customers. Quality is clearly one of the key
components in providing superior value but total quality is significantly more than that.
Associations that viable apply the total quality methodology to management are the ones
most likely to accomplish organizational excellence.
Below are the 11 critical elements that can help us achieve organizational excellence with
quality:
Strategically based
Customer focus
Obsession with quality
Scientific approach
Long-term commitment
Teamwork
Continual process improvement
Education and training
Freedom through control
Unity of purpose
Employee involvement and empowerment

4. What is Deming Cycle?

The Deming cycle is a continuous quality improvement model consisting of the following
repetitive steps for continuous improvement and learning: Plan, Do, Check, Act, Analyze.
Plan: Design business process components to improve results.
Do: Execution of the plan by taking small steps in controlled circumstances
Check: Checking the product to make sure it is produced according to the plan
Act: take action to standardize or improve the process
Analyze: Analyzing the product in terms of quality, cost and other criteria when
received in the marketplace.

Source: (Goetsch, David L and Stanley Davis, 2014, P. 9)

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5. What are the most common errors when starting quality initiatives?
Some of the most common errors when starting quality initiatives are as follows
Senior management delegation and poor leadership: Delegating responsibility to a
hired expert rather than getting everyone involved.
Team mania: Rushing and putting everyone in teams before learning has occurred
and the corporate culture has changed will create problems rather than solve
problems.
Deployment process: Some organizations develop quality initiatives without
concurrently developing a plan for integrating them into all elements of the
organization (operations, budgeting, marketing, etc.).
Taking a narrow, dogmatic approach: Even the experts encourage organizations to
tailor quality programs to their individual needs.
Confusion about the differences among education, awareness, inspiration, and
skill building: In order for the people to do their part in making the total quality
approach work, they must have the skills. Helping them develop the skills must be
a part of the transformation process.

6. Explain the cost of poor quality

The costs of poor quality include the costs accrued as a result of a defective product or
service. In other words, it is the cost of not doing something correct the first time. This
includes the cost associated in fulfilling the gap between the desired and the actual
product/service quality and the cost of lost opportunity due to the redirecting of resources
to resolve the quality issue. Such costs can include: waste, rejects, testing, rework,
customer returns, inspection, recalls, excessive overtime, pricing errors, billing errors,
excessive turnover, premium freight costs, development cost of the failed product, field
service costs, overdue receivables, handling complaints, expediting, system costs,
planning delays, late paperwork, lack of follow-up, excess inventory, customer
allowances, and unused capacity.

7. What are the quality characteristics of world-class organizations?

World-class organizations that compete in the global marketplace are concerned about
excelling in the following areas:
Customer service
Quality control and assurance
Research and development/new product development
Acquiring new technologies
Innovation
Team-based approach (adopting and using effectively)
Best practices (study and use of)
Manpower planning
Environmentally sound practices
Business partnerships and alliances
Reengineering of processes

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 Mergers and acquisitions
Outsourcing and contracting
Reliance on consulting services
Political lobbying
Of these 15 areas, the following are directly related to quality: customer service, quality
control and assurance, innovation, team-based approach to work, partnerships and
alliances, and reengineering of processes.
World-class organization also focus on a number of human resources topics:
Worker productivity (improvement)
Employee training and development
Open communication between management and employees
Employee benefits and perquisites
Codes of workplace conduct
Conflict resolution
Employee satisfaction
Flextime arrangements
Management-employee-union relations
Child care

8. Responsibility and total quality

Accepting Responsibility is the part of ethical behavior. And todays modern world has
evolved into one which focuses on rights but ignores the responsibilities that must
accompany those rights. When someone fails to achieve quality they try to blame others
for their shortcomings and failures. The Blame games are the biggest part of this modern
world. The organizations blame others for their own shortcomings and failures. In this
blame passing game people blame the society or their seniors for their sufferings. he
people who accept responsibility gain trust, integrity and all the other elements of ethics
that are so important in a total quality environment

9. Discuss some models for ethical quality decisions

Ethics as a concept exist within a framework defined by the organizational values. There
are several models that can be used for making ethical decisions the right model depends
on the organization which one to choose and depend on. Some of this Ethical models are
as follows.
Categorized Imperative model: In this model right is right and wrong is wrong
there are no grey areas. It is also known as Black and White model.
Full Disclosure Model: In this model the company presents its ideas to stake
holders and then stake holders decide what is ethical.
Doctrine of the mean model: The middle point between two extremes is decided
and the decision is taken in this model.
Golden rule model: This model follows the Golden rule which says Do unto
others as you would have them done unto you. It is very popular and it takes the
views of the stake holders into account in deciding what is ethical.

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 Market Ethic Model: In This model any legal action that promotes legal action is
profitable is ethical. The main aim is to make profit.
Organizational ethic model: In this model the most ethical decision is one that
best serves the organizations interest. Unless an organization has adopted a set of
guiding principles that ensure ethical behavior, the organization ethic model is
difficult to defend.
Equal freedom model: In this model the organization have the right to behave as
they want until it doesnt hurt the sentiments of the stake holders.
Proportionality Ethic Model: This model is based on the assumption that the
world is complex and decision are seldom clearly right or wrong. The best an
organization can do is to make sure the good outweighs the bad while making
decisions.
Professional Ethic Model: It states that the decision is ethical if it can be
explained to the approval of a broad cross section of professional peer.

10. What is the engineering manager's role in quality ethics?

Managers play a key role in Ethics in an organization. They are responsible for setting an
example of ethical behavior; helping employees make ethical choices and helping
employees follow through and behave ethically after making an ethical choice.
Customer Focus: Produce products keeping in mind the customer needs and
requirements because they are the backbone for the success of the company
Leadership: They should be a good leader to enhance good communication
between employees and the management
Process Approach: They should perform continuous trial test before releasing any
product and there will be continuous checks and time-to-time service on the
equipments and manufacturing machines.
Factual Approach to Decision Making: They should take decisions based on
actual facts and data. As the technology enhances day by day they should strive
hard to keep the companies data and facts up to date, analyze and review as and
when needed.
11. Sustainable Green focus. Please go on the web, Google YouTube, and then in the
field at the top type in 'Paul Ranky' (this is a search field and you'll find it easily). It will
show you over 120+ links to short video clips I put up on YouTube. The goal of this part
of the assignment is for you to find any 6 short clips on Paul Ranky, YouTube that deal
with marine life, (i.e. diving) and use those clips to convince your virtual board of
directors and shareholders, that your company MUST NOT POLLUTE the world, in
ANY ways, ANY time... it MUST BE SUSTAINABLE AND GREEN; not just
sustainable... but green too... these video clips show pristine marine eco-systems that
must not be destroyed by greed, incompetence, or human error... To document this, please
write a specific statement about how you will prevent any toxic waste or pollution to be
generated and released into any eco-system (land, sea, river, or air) in about 150 words.
Please make sure you reference the 6 videos you have chosen from Paul Ranky, YouTube
by putting in their individual filenames, and/or with hyperlinks to YouTube if you have a

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web-page at this stage already for your assignment. (To get more insight on sustainable
green challenges please watch Leonardo's excellent film
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CkXVF-Q8M )

We, human being, are heavily depending on ocean for many reasons such as medicine,
food, drink and air. Oceans are the largest ecosystem on earth with much diversity.
Oceans generate oxygen to breath and give us protein source of fish products. Moreover,
many peoples economy heavily depends on oceans and some enjoy the ocean base
recreational activities. It is really sad that ocean eco system gets disrupted by human error
or some greedy industrialist. We as a human should focus on to prevent toxic waste
released in to the environment by going green or taking sustainable approaches. Our
company can do the right things to protect the oceans in many ways; for example,
recycling or reusing our waste products will reduce significant number of toxic waste
getting into ocean and using solar or wind power system will eliminate fossil fuel usage
and that will have positive impact on the ocean. In addition to that our company can
make changes on our transportation system and the products we use for production by
demanding our supplier so that will have greater impact on supply chain as it expands. I
hope our company can be a leader in saving marine life and protecting oceans. Please
enjoy the attached video clips, which were produced by Dr. Paul Ranky, regarding
underwater world and decide what the right things to do is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcFjTrVNJxY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrF3VohfeVM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anp0SRZI2II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCnjpoHPqLU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YJGGIUqt0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi7tY273O7w

12. Social networking

P&G vows to eliminate all manufacturing waste within four years

Summary: The article indicates that Procter & Gamble co. vows to eliminate all
manufacturing waste from more than 100 plants around the world by 2020. P&G
planning on recycling about 650,000 metric tons waste to convert into either finished
products or recycle internally or externally for other use. According to P&Gs president
the vision for zero waste has started in 2010 and P&G is pushing to do more with less
waste. P&G has 115 factories including 24 in the United States and about 56 percent of
P&Gs global production sites have achieved the goal of zero manufacturing waste. All

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P&G manufacturing facilities in 19 countries have met the zero-waste qualification and
nearing 100 percent in other 2 countries.

Kokulan Vanniyasingam: I agree with the article, eliminating manufacturing waste is a

great idea and it will be beneficial to all the species on earth. Specially, our eco-system
will not be destroyed since toxic waste or pollution will not be landfilled. In addition to
that the amount of material resource used for production will be decreased significantly
and it will have positive impact to the customers and the company such as reduction in
prices and increase in profit. Certainly this idea is better than using new material for same
purpose. In addition, this initiative will be an eye opener for other industries and
organization. Moreover, I believe the goal of zero waste will not affect the quality of the
product at any level.

Wind and Solar Growth Outpace Gas

Summary: More than 50% of the 24,000 megawatts of electricity generation added to the
US grid in 2016 came from renewable resources such as wind and solar. A smaller
fraction of the renewable resource power generation comes from hydropower, biomass,
landfill gas and other sources. Natural gas still accounts for the majority of power
generation while coal comes in second. 2016 was the first year natural gas power
generation surpassed coal fired power generation. Coal fired power generation has fallen
to its lowest level in 40 years.

Kokulan Vanniyasingam: This article is really promising! I think the world is moving in
right direction toward elimination carbon pollution. As we all know Renewable energy is
clean, affordable, domestic, and effectively infinite. It produces no emissions and results
in cleaner air and water for all. Despite different views on global warming among
politician and law makers, this tells us more wind & solar power will be good alternatives
for fossil fuel.

Details On Volkswagens Guilty Plea & $4.3 Billion In Fines + 6 Indictments

Summary: This article discusses Volkswagen's guilty plea to 3 felony counts, the criminal
and civil penalties that amount to $4.3 billion dollars and the individual indictments they
face for defrauding consumers with the software used in their clean diesel vehicles.

Kokulan Vanniyasingam: The VW reputation is ruined by itself by trying to make profit

out of customers by violating the law. Damage is done to the environment cant be
reversed, however, by enforcing tougher criminal charges and fine at least we hope that it
will not be repeated by anyone else. I, also, hope that the total amount of fine will be used
for environmental protection in a way.

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Reference:
Goetsch, David L., and Stanley Davis. "Chapter 1 - 4." Quality Management for
Organizational Excellence: Introduction to Total Quality. Harlow, Essex, England:
Pearson, 2014. N. page. Print.

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