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Essay Name       : 871.txt 
Uploader         : Alex Gonzales
Email Address    : 
Language         : English
Subject          : Economics
Title            : Total Quality Management
Grade            : 97%
School System    : American
Country          : Mexico
Author Comments  : N/A
Teacher Comments : Good Presentation
Date             : 11/11/96
Site found at    : Yahoo
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TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
 
 	What is Total Quality Management? For many companies the attainment of Total Quality Management is a valuable first step towards improving their overall quality performance. However, the most successful companies are increasingly making a commitment to a quality practice which extends to every aspect of their business. This practice is known as Total Quality Management (TQM). Total Quality Management means organizing your business to improve its effectiveness, flexibility and competitiveness as a whole. It not only provides the satisfaction of doing the job well and efficiently, but is also the most cost effective way of doing so. It is a common sense approach which extends a commitment to quality and the pursuit of excellence not only to satisfying customer needs, but to every aspects of a company's activities and especially to its relationships with suppliers and sub-contractors. TQM focuses on doing the right thing, right, first time. In general management is unaware of the overall cost to the company of not getting things right first time. This can be estimated and is usually referred to as the Cost of Quality. Typically, it is between 15% and 40% of turnover. Total Quality Management must be implemented on a company-wide basis. To be successful its introduction requires the total commitment of both the chief executive and senior management together with the full involvement of all employees. Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a renowned world authority on quality, was asked why companies should make a commitment to Total Quality. His reply was: "You do not have to do this - survival is not compulsory". The message is simple - in the longer term you must adopt the TQM philosophy.
 	Budgetary restraints are forcing surveying managers to look for ways to improve efficiency. Improvements in processes can account for substantial savings over the life of a surveying project. One body of knowledge that holds great promise is Total Quality Management (TQM). Originally developed for the manufacturing sector, the technique of TQM can be successfully applied to surveying in the public sector.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a coverall term referring to the theory that by striving for perfection on a number of fronts, it is possible to bring about a variety of efficiency improvements (Donnelly, 1984). Just-in-time inventory, broadened worker involvement, a focus on the customer, and streamlining processes with a feedback loop are hallmarks of total quality management. (Zabel, 1993). Proper implementation is a key to reaping the most benefits (Jacob, 1993). Previously implemented in private manufacturing industry, TQM has recently been hailed as a way to increase the effectiveness of service industries.
  
Surveying as a Service Industry Managing Time . Understanding the nature of surveying is successfully implementing any progressive change. Consider that service industries cannot store products in inventory for future use nor provide their services after they are required. Therefore, it is extremely important to manage time as the main factor of the cost of a project. By isolating separate parts of the surveying process, it is possible to analyze them and make changes that minimize unnecessary movement and double work.
  	The Mission Statement . It is important to create some sort of mission statement for the crew or organization. The ultimate goal dictates the reference system by which changes will be judged. Production improvements are usually the main goal for TQM implementation. This might involve reducing costs, increasing output, or both. Additionally, the goal of quality work strives for perfection in every step in the creation, execution, delivery and resolution of work.
  	
Training.  The concepts of TQM need to be understood by at least one of the crew members. Management courses, workshops, and professional publications are three excellent ways to learn effective leadership. In addition, crew members need to be open-minded to the changes suggested by the leader. It helps if they have a vested interest in the success of the implementation of TQM. Finally, the crew members must be thoroughly trained in the specific surveying duties they perform.
  	
Equipment.  It may seem obvious, but with the rapid pace of technological advancement in surveying equipment over the past ten years, it is worth mentioning that an investment in top-notch surveying tools will enable the crew to perform their work with maximum efficiency (assuming they have the training and willingness to use the technology to its fullest). Even with old equipment, having access to extendible legs, reliable rods, and well-maintained tools allows for optimal performance with minimal investment.

Just -in -Time . Another useful adaptation of TQM is the theory of just-in-time management.
As applied to a process, just-in-time management (JIT) suggests that the maximum utility of each person is obtained when each is prepared to participate in the process exactly at the moment when they are needed. 

Removing Bottlenecks . Although the reality of the field conditions is that each person varies in position in space and point in process, striving for the ideal will lead the crew to streamline their activities. If the rest of the crew is waiting for one person, that person could increase his or her pace, or the job load could be distributed differently. Potential bottlenecks in the process must be overcome or accepted. Deciding what the bottlenecks are and suggesting solutions for them offers an excellent opportunity to incorporate cooperative involvement from all participants in the process. 
  	
Cooperative Decision-making . Cooperative decision-making is another hallmark of total quality management. The person who knows any job best is the person who does that job on a regular basis. Faced with the proposition of improving a job with concomitant personal gain, a person offers extra creativity and problem-solving energy that maximizes process improvement. Furthermore, studies have shown that people who are involved in directing change are more amenable to any related change, even if that change ends up different from their particular opinion (Peters, 1982).
  	
Brainstorming . Brainstorming is a technique that a crew can use to support the involvement of concerned parties. A free and uncritical presentation of suggestions as to causes, limitations or solutions to situations are presented in an open manner with no judgments as to efficacy. Whenever feasible, options should be implemented and tested. It is imperative to create a climate of support for team input so that an environment of cooperation and acceptance is built and maintained. Along with avoiding the pitfalls of automatic rejections, trying out various techniques can lead to surprising successes or to the generation of new ideas worthy of consideration. In addition, crew members create a climate of open communication in which they share information regarding the trade-offs of specific changes and establish a crew value system as reference. Finally, workers tend to take more pride in their work when they are given the opportunity to explore their own creativity.

Empathy for Other Work Roles . care should be taken to consider and understand other workers' points of view. By exchanging work responsibilities, each person becomes intimately aware of the necessity to perform that role in such a way as to maximize another' s efficiency while minimizing discordant behavior. Each person needs a firm understanding of the ramifications of the performance of their job role in relation to another person' s job role. Once each person has developed a heightened awareness of each position, it is possible to make alterations in the job responsibilities to maximize the efficiency of the team. By analyzing a variety of work factors, it is possible to assess the value of change.
  	
A Feedback Loop . A feedback loop is a mechanism by which progress is analyzed and graded. Essentially, it asks the question: How well did the implemented change improve the process? Considerations of the variety of trade-offs in every change can be identified and weighted according to a value system that is designed with all members in mind. This weighting process might be an intuitive feeling for what is best, or it might involve expressly writing out and evaluating the effects. The feedback loop is completed with the question: What else can we try to optimize the value of our work?
  	
Support from Top Management . An integral part of the success of the implementation of TQM is support of all the members of the crew. But another factor that can make or break that success is the attitude of higher echelon employees. Fortunately, higher productivity through greater efficiency is a winner for all involved. In the specific case of the application of TQM to surveying in the public sector, the crew does most of its work independently. Considerable leeway is afforded the crew supervisor. As a result, top management effects are generally limited to equipment budgets, personnel assignments, and employee compensation. Even so, these effects can make a dramatic difference in the success of TQM improvements. Finally, union regulations may deserve consideration. Rigorous enforcement may tend to stifle innovation while strict adherence to job roles strikes at a core of TQM theory role exchange.
   	
Rewards for Performance . The meaning of optimization varies somewhat according to the goals of a process (Acharya, 1992). Workers, in general, have an array of quality-of-work issues that should be addressed as part of any changes. Workers want to feel involved in decisions related to the work they are expected to perform. They expect to be rewarded for the time they spend at work and receive intangible benefits as well. Feelings of accomplishment, self-satisfaction and progress are also important qualities of work.




REFERENCES

Acharya, B. and W. Z. Talbert, 1992, Choosing an Optimal Surveying Technique. Surveying and Land Information Systems , Vol. 52, No. 4: 215-217.
Donnelly, J. Et Al. 1984,  Fundamentals of Management , Fifth Edition, Business Publications, Inc. 
Peters, T. and R. Waterman Jr. 1982,  In Search of Excellence , Harper and Row, New York, p. 68. 
Zabel, D. and C. Avery, 1992, Total Quality Management: A Primer.  RO , Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 206-216.

 
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