Strategic Quality and System Management

Introduction

The role of strategic management is to spearhead the business organization effectively and efficiently towards its set deliverable and objectives. System management is a fundamental domain of strategic management which steers the quality performance of an organization. Systems management ensures all activities in the realm of production are coordinated. This task intends to explore various processes underlying quality management, and the role of these activities in supporting organisational performance. Besides, the organisational management’s role in managing quality will be brought into the limelight of understanding by the end of this work.

Main Approaches to Quality Management

Leonard (2010) suggests all organisations employ Strategic Quality Management as a proactive strategy to attain competitive advantages, despite their means of attaining these advantages differs. Strategic Quality Management refers to an approach seeking to improve performance and quality which will meet customers’ demands. Strategic Quality Management is fostered the incorporation of all quality-related processes and functions throughout the entire organisation.

Mosadeghrad (2014) proposes five fundamental pillars upon which Strategic Quality Management should be anchored on namely; customer orientation, continuous improvement, committed leadership, process orientation, and participation of everyone.

Concerning customer orientation, all tasks and processes in the organisation will be geared to ensure customers’ requirement and needs are fully met, and even exceeded. To derive this, the company ought to identify both extern and internal customer, as a basis of comprehending their need and wok towards them. On continuous improvement, the company should always be keen on ensuring dynamic needs and preferences of customers are met, and therefore incline towards the philosophy of continuous improvement. On process orientation, SQM should reflect on production process rather than on final products. This is based on the view that a well-pursued production process will automatically bring forth excellent products or services. Focusing on process rather than on final products ensure all factors of production in place are in the correct form in line with attaining intended deliverables (Mosadeghrad, 2014). Committed leadership entails in-depth mastery of fundamental concepts and ideals concepts by the senior management on matters related to SQM. The senior management should therefore offer concrete leadership as a pillar to steer forward SQM into the light of reality. Finally on participation of everyone, all management stakeholders within the company should be wholly involved and committed to this discourse of actualizing SQM processes. Bainbridge and Travis (2013) write it is almost impossible to attain the pursuits and objectives of SQM without mutual commitment that is conceived of corporate culture, which induces awareness concerning the rationales and positive implications of good quality and above all, motivate stakeholders to take responsibility in their deeds.

Explanation on How Organisations Benefit from Continuous Improvement

The element of continuous improvement is fundamental to the prosperity of a company amidst the competitive market landscape. In this landscape of dynamic needs, preferences and fluctuations in consumers’ tastes; the only way in which these variables would be articulated and met is by continuous improvement. The company should be therefore flexible enough to adapt to the changes in the consumers preferences, tastes and needs; to ensure customers are retained and many more attracted (Mosadeghrad, 2012). The highly volatile and dynamic market patterns have always demanded that only those companies which suit the ever-changing needs of consumers will control larger market shares. In addition, the technological world is equally revolutionizing at unprecedented rates. It is through continuous improvement that these technological needs can be assimilated into the organisational context and take part in increasing efficiency in production.

Furthermore, continuous improvement is paramount since organisational activities hardly attain perfection. Continuous improvement not only encompasses process innovation and product innovation but also small-step improvements and developments in the whole organisation. Updating on these parameters therefore contributes to the basketry of customer satisfaction which is a core objective of many companies (Mosadeghrad, 2012).

Micheli and Manzoni (2010) suggest continuous improvement is reliant on two elements namely; learning the appropriate tools, processes and skills and secondly actualizing these newfound aspects small achievable projects. The initial process of continuous improvement was conceived by Deming which conceptualised it as Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), which is an endless cycle of improvement happening in all phases of the organisation (Basu and Wright, 2012).

An Analysis of the Differences between Compliance and Ownership-Based Approaches to Achieving Quality

Basu and Wright (2012) write compliance is the process by which companies conform to legislations and prove they are doing so to the relevant regulating and inspection bodies. Quality and compliance are inextricably inter-twined in an organization seeking to ascend the market pedestal to become a market leader. In the environment of rapid globalization and elevated product development costs, the companies should effectively comply to the elements of product safety, data protection, environmental, health and safety impact, export control, Information Technology security and safety, anti-corruption, employment law and fair competition. Companies must abide to these legislations to be deemed compliant. It is possible for products to possess same compliance but yet different quality, especially if two items complied with regulations but one item cannot function as initially intended.

Ownership-based approaches to quality are constricted on the principle of Total Quality Management which maintains a view that quality belongs to any person who creates it in the process of performing a job. To ensure all quality assurance issues ate effectively catered for. Klett (2010) suggests ownership of every process or control must be made clear. Quality management is not portrayed as a function of quality management docket of a company by every stakeholder’s responsibility. Periodic reviews are important in ownership-based approaches for they form a basis of benchmarking stakeholders’ accountability to quality, and findings recorded for appropriate corrective measures.

In compliance approaches to achieving quality, quality departments play a crucial role in not only fixing big quality issues but are also the senior architects of the quality designs, and the major persons deeply at the heart of consumers’ actual needs and being active coaches of problem-solving pursuits. As opposed to ownership based approaches, employees involved in the production domain are heavily mandated to control the aspect of quality and ensure they are produced with maximum inclinations to quality matters (Basu and Wright, 2014).

How Organisations Benefit from Holistic Approach to Quality Management

Goetsch and Davis (2014) suggest a holistic quality approach links supply chain to current elements of quality management. Application of quality management tools to enhance supplier relationships is fundamental for the organisation in various including providing a mechanism for tracing changes, facilitating reports and performance ratings and providing a basis for corrective actions.

Concerning tracking changes, products and processes are dynamic and evolving and therefore it is paramount that these changes tracked in good time and various stakeholders notifies promptly. In this manner, the supply chain becomes efficient and the communication channels become clear. For this to become a reality, it is important to incorporate supply chain into the company’s Strategic Quality Management (Johannsen, 2013).

About reports and performance ratings, holistic approach activates the application of tracking tools provided in a Strategic Quality Management System, in a way that every company stakeholder can see reports concerning incidents or issues occurring on all ends. The company employing data tracking tools internally to track incidents with its very own compliance. This tool is vital for managing suppliers too. According to Rothaermel (2017), permitting suppliers to view reports is good since it provides them a good evaluation of their performance and what they can endeavour to do for the betterment of their operations. An automated Quality Management System yields these reports automatically, such that suppliers attain instrumental insights with regard to their performance rating. Companies are also able to understand the impact various suppliers contain on general compliance and quality.

A holistic approach to quality management equally establishes foundation for the application of necessary corrective actions either internally or externally to ensure quality is enhanced throughout the production process. Ability to notify responsible internal or external stakeholders involved in providing remedy to failing systems helps in resolving corrective action, while preventing escalation of issues. Relevant actions such as reviewing new specifications and procuring new products may provide momentous remedy. The supplier will get notified and have access to records of that which is in need of a change (Pryor et al., 2010).

Holistic approach to quality management integrates leadership and governance structure which facilitates decision-making, inducing practices which enables disciplines implementation, and capacitating a common technology threshold which spearheads stakeholder participation for the realization if expected outcomes. Based on this conception, a holistic approach to quality management therefore assists in the delivery of maximum benefits and outcomes. According to Pryor et al., (2010), putting supplier management under the threshold of Quality Management System realm is a brilliant move. When the supplier chain is isolated from other quality processes a company is likely to deteriorate in performance due to the weaknesses of other methodologies such as hard-copy paper work or emails which lack centralizes, instant and organized communication approaches keeping all stakeholders updated.

Zink (2012) suggests pursuing a holistic approach to quality management (including supply chain in the quality system) helps to improve the company’s relationship with her supplier. Suppliers have a big role in the smooth continuity of the company operations. This relationship created may extend externally and form a basis of new customer attraction which consequently will contribute to increased sales for the company.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the quality management is a fundamental practice ensuring efficiency in production, but yet an almost impossible intrigue especially when the management has no thoughts about where the organisation want be strategically. To forecast the business ahead of the highly dynamic and competitive business world, strategic quality and system management are unavoidable. In the current work, useful insights which can expand the knowledge on quality and system management are presented, as a basis of informing company proponents that which is pertinent in spearheading the company ahead.

Dig deeper into Strategic Practices and Supply Chain Management at Euroscot Marine with our selection of articles.

References

Bainbridge, D.D. and Travis, N.C., 2013. Strategic quality support system. U.S. Patent 8,577,719.

Basu, R. and Wright, J.N., 2012. Quality beyond six sigma. Routledge.

Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Johannsen, F., 2013. A holistic approach for integrating methods in quality management. No. March, pp.999-1013.

Klett, F., 2010. The design of a sustainable competency-based human resources management: A holistic approach. Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal, 2(3), pp.278-292.

Leonard, D., 2010. Quality management practices in the US homebuilding industry. The TQM Journal, 22(1), pp.101-110.

Micheli, P. and Manzoni, J.F., 2010. Strategic performance measurement: Benefits, limitations and paradoxes. Long range planning, 43(4), pp.465-476.

Mosadeghrad, A.M., 2012. Implementing strategic collaborative quality management in healthcare sector. International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 4(3-4), pp.203-228.

Mosadeghrad, A.M., 2014. Essentials of total quality management: a meta-analysis. International journal of health care quality assurance, 27(6), pp.544-558.

Pryor, M.G., Toombs, L., Anderson, D. and White, J.C., 2010. What management and quality theories are best for small businesses? Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 3, p.1.

Rothaermel, F.T., 2017. Strategic management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Sallis, E., 2014. Total quality management in education. Routledge.

Zink, K.J., 2012. Total Quality Management as a holistic management concept: the European model for business excellence. Springer Science & Business Media.