2. Management structure: key information to all employees, leadership role and culture
3. Quality tools: quality goals and planning, measuring key results and statistical process control
Abbreviations: HR, human resources; TQM, total quality management.
TQM predictors in the reviewed studies
Study number | TQM predictors in the reviewed studies | % of occurrence | Ranking (based on frequency) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Education and training | 52 | 1 |
2 | Continuous quality improvement | 36 | 2 |
3 | Customer (patient) focus/satisfaction | 32 | 3 |
4 | Top management commitment | 32 | 3 |
5 | Teamwork | 24 | 4 |
6 | Others (human resources focus [employee management process, reward, etc]; management structure; quality tools; leadership and management style; interpersonal relations/communications; cooperation and participation; information analysis; job satisfaction) | 40 | 5 |
The researched literature on predictors of successful TQM implementation was found to be from various countries but in the same health sector. While some predictors adopted by a few of the researched studies were identified, the most frequent and core predictors were identified and considered. As depicted in Table 2 , education and training, continuous quality improvement, patient focus/satisfaction, top management commitment and teamwork appear to be the core predictors (CSFs) in this review. This finding validates how important these variables are in the successful implementation of TQM in the health-care context.
It is noteworthy that the core predictors (ie, education and training, continuous quality improvement, patient focus/satisfaction, top management commitment and teamwork) identified in this study were among the variables found to be central and frequently used CSFs in the previous systematic-review-based studies. 14 , 21 This validates and confirms the findings of the previous studies.
Moreover, it is found that the most adopted research method in TQM in the health-care context is cross-sectional research; 56% of the reviewed researched articles 41 – 46 used a cross-sectional research design, but 32% of the studies employed a quasi-experimental research approach. This indicates that there is still a need for more research on TQM in the health-care context which will adopt a quasi-experimental research approach, because quasi-experimental research design can be very useful in recognizing general trends from the results, and reduces the difficulty and ethical worries that may be connected with the pre-selection and random assignment of test subjects. On the geographical location aspect, the result of this analysis showed that 28% of the reviewed studies were conducted in Iran while 20% of the reviewed studies were conducted in Jordan; 12% and 8% of the reviewed studies were conducted in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, respectively. The other studies, 4% each, came from India, Namibia, Turkey, the United States, France and Mauritius.
With regards to the influence of predictors on performance in the researched studies, it is found that all of the selected articles 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ,. 51 that examined the effects of the core predictors (continuous quality improvement, education and training, patient focus/satisfaction, top management commitment and teamwork) of TQM indicate a positive effect of TQM in the health-care sector.
More so, the findings of this review signify that predictors of TQM implementation will result in higher levels of nurse performance .51 In addition, the literature and empirical evidence have shown that TQM in an organizational process always results in better performance of the organization. TQM focuses on patient satisfaction, organization problem identification, building and promotion of open decision-making among employees. It embraces a holistic strategy that gives room for every worker to share responsibility for the quality of the work done. It makes use of analytical mechanisms, such as flow and statistical charts and checksheets, to gather information about activities in an organization. 52 In the medical sector, TQM aims at embedding orientation of quality in all processes and procedures in the delivery of health services .15
Nevertheless, this literature survey is not an exhaustive review of the literature on TQM as it solely focused on the effect of TQM. Future research should widen the scope of this paper by including studies conducted in other contexts (eg, education, manufacturing, etc) and studies that use different research methods (eg, longitudinal research method, randomized control trial method). While TQM predictors have increased in number to reach a total of 59 TQM practices, 21 TQM predictors in the context of health care are few but growing. Investigating the nature of TQM predictors and the methods used in examining them indicates that researchers may have been keen in searching for new predictors instead of trying to cluster them and identify those that are critical for successful TQM implementation. In addition, research on TQM predictors in the health-care sector is scanty, as noted previously.
Practically, given the identified core TQM predictors in this study, it is evident that hospitals’ management should consider entrenchment of continuous quality improvement, education and training, patient focus/satisfaction top management commitment and teamwork in the implementation of TQM, which will consequently enhance hospital performance. Given that TQM predictors are many and some of them have been considered core in several specific contexts, industries, dimensions, etc, it is held that stakeholders in different sectors/industries should begin to identify the most vital TQM practices that suit their situations, goals, strategies and expected performances.
As TQM has become an important management approach for advancing performance, this kind of research is of value to researchers and managers. Nevertheless, this study has limitations, including that the databases and search engines adopted for the literature search are not exhaustive. Although a good number of keywords are used, there can be other likely keywords that can be included.
This work has contributed to the enrichment of the relevant literature and made theoretical and methodological contributions. It has provided a foundation on which research on TQM can be built via review of the work done between 2005 and 2016, plotting the development of the line of reasoning, and integration and synthesis of studies from TQM in the health-care context. It has also contributed by evaluating the current state of evidence regarding TQM, indicating inadequacies in the literature and pointing to where further research needs to be done. Thus, it contributes to the present body of knowledge as well as the research on TQM in the health-care context.
This work has also established that the most adopted research method in health-care-based TQM is cross-sectional research, followed by quasi-experimental research, and the researched studies were mostly conducted in Asia. The findings of the researched literature indicate a positive effect of TQM in the health-care context, indicating that TQM implementation, which contains the identified core predictors, will result in higher levels of performance. Furthermore, TQM implementation can help health-care professionals to gain more qualified behaviors with total commitment to work toward handling the patients, which in the long run will augment their performance.
The findings of the reviewed studies indicate how it would be useful for stakeholders in the health sectors to introduce and implement TQM in the hospitals and clinics, as this would enhance the performance of the health workers and consequently improve organizational performance. Given the limitations of this work, it is sufficed to suggest that future research should widen the scope of this paper by including studies conducted in other contexts and studies that use different research methods, and it should also develop a comprehensive TQM taxonomy to explain how and why TQM practices coalesce within systems that facilitate higher performance.
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.
Updated: March 5, 2023 by Lori Kinney
Xerox went from being an industry leader to resting on its laurels. Their focus shifted away from improvement for the benefit of their customers. This, coupled with a financial scandal, brought the organization to the point where many financial experts believed that bankruptcy was on the horizon. A major shift in how Xerox did business righted the ship and then some.
An embrace of both Total Quality Management and Lean Six Sigma is what helped bring Xerox back. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management system that is fully aligned with the methodologies of both Lean and Six Sigma. It typically adopts eight guiding principles. They are as follows:
• Putting the customer first: In Total Quality Management, there is a primary focus on the customer experience. Through all aspects of interaction with the organization, the customer is the priority.
• Employee ownership and involvement: All employees are working towards a common goal. Workers feel empowered, involved, heard, and integral to processes.
• Process-based success: TQM focuses on creating and implementing processes that find success, are repeatable, and are sustainable.
• Integration: TQM strategies deal with making sure that all assets that are available are integrated and working towards the goals.
• Communication: During all points of change in the organization, as well as during the day-to-day operations, communication plays a massive role in keeping up the morale and motivation of the team.
• Data and facts, not assumptions: Data is for the company’s improvement, and decisions are made based on facts, not assumptions or feelings.
• Strategic planning: TQM focuses on using a strategic and systematic approach towards achieving goals.
• Continuous improvement : A culture of continuous improvement drives the organization towards continually finding better and more effective ways of improving the company and how it meets the needs of its customers.
Think about these main tenets of Total Quality Management when reading the case study of Xerox below and how the organization was able to turn itself around.
In 2002, Xerox was fined 10 million dollars by the Securities and Exchange Commission, under accusations that the corporation had been inflating its operating performance for a four-year period. The following year, six former Xerox executives were fined a total of 22 million dollars after being charged with securities fraud and aiding and abetting the corporation’s violations of federal securities law. The SEC alleged that the purpose of these practices was to deliberately mislead investors in order to raise the organization’s Wall Street reputation as well as inflate the worth of the company’s stock.
The impact of these allegations weighed heavily on the reputation of Xerox. Not only did the company have this scandal to contend with, there was also the fact that it was no longer as dominant in the marketplace as it once was. The improvement of the products that the company was built on had become stagnant, so other companies came along and made products that used the Xerox products as a jumping-off point. These products did what Xerox photocopiers did, but did it more reliably, faster, and less expensively. The company had been resting on its laurels, thinking that it would continue to thrive without doing anything to continue improving.
Along with not innovating for the sake of its customers, there were efforts to change the culture of the company that caused major internal issues. This led to a slew of mismanaged sales, shipping problems, frustrated employees, and the loss of trust from customers.
All of these combined factors led Xerox to fall into a 16-billion-dollar debt, and most financial experts expected the company to declare Chapter 11.
Instead, Xerox brought on two important figures that would be integral to the effort towards bringing the company back from the brink. One was Lawrence Zimmerman, and the other was Anne Mulcahy.
It would be necessary to change how Xerox worked as well as how it was viewed in the public eye after the scandal. Luckily, the change in top-level management created the perfect opportunity to do so.
Lawrence Zimmerman had been a major player during his 31 years at IBM. He became well known for having highly developed skills in the financial restructuring of organizations. Zimmerman joined Xerox in 2002 as CFO and senior vice president, coming out of retirement at the time.
Anne Mulcahy was brought on and made the CEO of Xerox, once the former chief executive officer was ousted. She was the company’s first female CEO, and the news of her placement in the organization caused the price of Xerox stock to drop 15%.
Getting Xerox back on track was not going to be easy.
The goal for both was to gain back Xerox’s strong reputation and get the company back to being profitable after the tarnish that the investigation, fine, and loss of strength in the marketplace had put on the organization.
Just how, though, were they going to do it?
Before Zimmerman and Mulcahy made any moves toward fixing the organization, it was necessary to know exactly what the problems were in the eyes of those that should be most important to a company–the customers.
Mulcahy’s first project as CEO was to hop on a plane and undertake 90 days of solicitation of constructive criticism about the company through direct communication with customers, focus groups, public forums, industry analysts, and more. She flew from meeting to meeting, learning from the customer base what they actually wanted from the company. She also made a point of listening to the employees to get an understanding of where they saw the most issues with the organization. The employees, in general, were happy to be involved in whatever solutions would be decided on as long as there was a clear direction to follow.
Her remarkably thorough efforts to determine exactly what the problems were are a good example of the Define stage of DMAIC in Six Sigma.
One of the first things that were decided upon was the elimination of waste in the company. With a customer-centric approach, if clear interest had not been shown by customers in a line of products, they were cut. Areas of the organization that were wasting resources were eliminated. One example would be nearly the entire range of products that were directed toward home offices. A deep look was put into all processes to ensure structural and operational efficiency.
The team also went after lost markets by focusing research and development on the input that was received during Mulcahy’s interactions with customers. The emphasis on innovation to meet the needs of the customer led to improved copy machines and multifunctional devices. Some of the innovations stemmed from the creative thinking of including the customers themselves in the development process. In order to ensure that the focus on customers was coming from the top down, Mulcahy assigned all senior managers to their own key customers–helping to guarantee that Xerox no longer strayed from the improvement of the customer experience by making the customer a primary part of the company culture.
Zimmerman also used his expertise to help Xerox focus on efficiency and deliver value to customers. During these transitional years, Xerox led over 1,500 Lean Six Sigma projects with the assistance of over 600 Sigma Black Belts.
In order to address the financial culture at Xerox post-investigation, a holistic approach to global-reporting processes was developed, with an insistence on high ethical standards of excellence. An ethics code of conduct was developed for employees and the finance department, in particular.
Like all true change, the positive effects of this return to core values and embrace of putting the customer first did not immediately pay off. Xerox continued to have a couple of hard years before the true benefits of changing the company culture could be seen.
After about three years, the benefits of this strategy began to really show for Xerox. Being receptive to feedback from customers and workers on how to improve, as well as funneling this input into implementing Six Sigma projects, made a huge difference. Shifting the culture of the company to focus on their innovations based on input received from their customers instead of assumptions also had a massive impact. In less than five years, Xerox went from losing 200 million dollars a year to grossing over 1 billion dollars. Being transparent with its dealings ethically also helped regain the confidence and trust back of customers and stakeholders.
1. innovate for your customers.
Xerox learned how important it was to not innovate just based on assumptions but by listening to their customers and innovating to actually solve their problems and meet their needs.
Even during a crisis, Xerox learned the value of working to make the company better for its customers. Finding ways to improve the customer experience is a big part of what saved Xerox.
In order to survive, Xerox had to make some tough decisions about eliminating programs that were resource drains and were not adding value for their customers.
Making it a priority to get feedback from your customers, workers, and colleagues can give much-needed insight into the improvement of products that you already have out on the market as well as point towards moving into new areas that are in high-demand from your clients. This kind of open communication also builds trust between the company, the client, and the staff.
Xerox had tried to make changes in their organization before. What was different within the organization this time was that the staff felt personally invested in and involved in the changes that were going to happen. This time, they felt that everyone in the organization was working towards set goals and that everyone understood what those goals were.
Through having top management put as much of their own efforts towards the customer experience, employees felt much more inclined to follow suit.
One key takeaway from the example of Xerox is that an organization should not believe that its past successes are going to carry over into the future indefinitely. An organization needs to keep improving in order to meet the needs and demands of customers. A company also needs to act ethically, or else they will lose the trust and confidence of the public. It is also vital that an organization listen to its customers and employees in order to know where to target its current and future efforts. If you really take the time in your company to find out from your customers and workers where the main issues are in the organization, you stand a much better chance at finding the root causes and eliminating any waste that is draining valuable resources and not contributing toward providing value in the customer experience.
Coca Cola’s history can be traced back to a man called Asa Candler, who bought a specific formula from a pharmacist named Smith Pemberton. Two years later, Asa founded his business and started production of soft drinks based on the formula he had bought. From then, the company grew to become the biggest producers of soft drinks with more than five hundred brands sold and consumed in more than two hundred nations worldwide.
Although the company is said to be the biggest bottler of soft drinks, they do not bottle much. Instead, Coca Cola Company manufactures a syrup concentrate, which is bought by bottlers all over the world. This distribution system ensures the soft drink is bottled by these smaller firms according to the company’s standards and guidelines. Although this franchised method of distribution is the primary method of distribution, the mother company has a key bottler in America, Coca Cola Refreshments.
Coca Cola started diversifying its products during the First World War when ‘Fanta’ was introduced. During World War 1, the heads of Coca Cola in Nazi Germany decided to establish a new soft drink into the market. During the ongoing war, America’s promotion in Germany was not acceptable. Therefore, he decided to use a new name and ‘Fanta’ was born. The creation was successful and production continued even after the war. ‘Sprite’ followed soon after.
In the 1990’s, health concerns among consumers of soft drinks forced their manufactures to consider altering the energy content of these products. ‘Minute Maid’ Juices, ‘PowerAde’ sports drinks, and a few flavored teas variants were Coca Cola’s initial reactions to this new interest. Although most of these new products were well received, some did not perform as well. An example of such was Coca Cola classic, dubbed C2.
It is very important that each product that Coca Cola produces is of a high quality standard to ensure that each product is exactly the same. This is important as the company wants to meet with customer requirements and expectations. With the brand having such a global presence, it is vital that these checks are continually consistent. The standardized bottle of Coca Cola has elements that need to be checked whilst on the production line to make sure that a high quality is being met. The most common checks include ingredients, packaging and distribution. Much of the testing being taken place is during the production process, as machines and a small team of employees monitor progress. It is the responsibility of all of Coca Colas staff to check quality from hygiene operators to product and packaging quality. This shows that these constant checks require staff to be on the lookout for problems and take responsibility for this, to ensure maintained quality.
Coca-cola uses both Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) throughout its production process. QC mainly focuses on the production line itself, whereas QA focuses on its entire operations process and related functions, addressing potential problems very quickly. In QC and QA, state of the art computers check all aspects of the production process, maintaining consistency and quality by checking the consistency of the formula, the creation of the bottle (blowing), fill levels of each bottle, labeling of each bottle, overall increasing the speed of production and quality checks, which ensures that product demands are met. QC and QA helps reduce the risk of defective products reaching a customer; problems are found and resolved in the production process, for example, bottles that are considered to be defective are placed in a waiting area for inspection. QA also focuses on the quality of supplied goods to Coca-cola, for example sugar, which is supplied by Tate and Lyle. Coca-cola informs that they have never had a problem with their suppliers. QA can also involve the training of staff ensuring that employees understand how to operate machinery. Coca-Cola ensures that all members of staff receive training prior to their employment, so that employees can operate machinery efficiently. Machinery is also under constant maintenance, which requires highly skilled engineers to fix problems, and help Coca-cola maintain high outputs.
Every bottle is also checked that it is at the correct fill level and has the correct label. This is done by a computer which every bottle passes through during the production process. Any faulty products are taken off the main production line. Should the quality control measures find any errors, the production line is frozen up to the last good check that was made. The Coca Cola bottling plant also checks the utilization level of each production line using a scorecard system. This shows the percentage of the line that is being utilized and allows managers to increase the production levels of a line if necessary.
Before production starts on the line cleaning quality tasks are performed to rinse internal pipelines, machines and equipment. This is often performed during a switch over of lines for example, changing Coke to Diet Coke to ensure that the taste is the same. This quality check is performed for both hygiene purposes and product quality. When these checks are performed the production process can begin.
Coca Cola uses a database system called Questar which enables them to perform checks on the line. For example, all materials are coded and each line is issued with a bill of materials before the process starts. This ensures that the correct materials are put on the line. This is a check that is designed to eliminate problems on the production line and is audited regularly. Without this system, product quality wouldn’t be assessed at this high level. Other quality checks on the line include packaging and carbonation which is monitored by an operator who notes down the values to ensure they are meeting standards.
The successfulness of this system can be measured by assessing the consistency of the product quality. Coca Cola say that ‘Our Company’s Global Product Quality Index rating has consistently reached averages near 94 since 2007, with a 94.3 in 2010, while our Company Global Package Quality Index has steadily increased since 2007 to a 92.6 rating in 2010, our highest value to date’. This is an obvious indication this quality system is working well throughout the organisation. This increase of the index shows that the consistency of the products is being recognized by consumers.
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Abstract: Total Quality Management (TQM) has an important role in any company, since the implementation of this program companies can continuously improve their performance. Thus, organizations will be able to considerably meet their internal and external clients' needs in terms of services and products quality, and they will also be able to develop an efficient and profitable business. The paper analyzes how this concept was implemented by the British Airways airline, since it is among the first companies that have implemented such a program.
Key-words: quality, management system, services, products, efficiency.
1. Introduction
The methods to ensure the quality of products and services have evolved continuously in accordance with the rapid technological and socio-cultural changes, that have marked the evolution of society, especially in this century. (Baltescu, C.A., Boscor, D., 2014, 65)
Also, in the European Union, the consumer protection policy should be regarded as a horizontal policy aimed to promoting consumer interests. In addition, this policy has significant effects on other EU policies such as: Common Agricultural Policy, environment, transport and energy policy which include rules regarding consumer rights. (Neacsu N.A. 2011, 52)
These requirements taken into account, integrated quality assurance concepts have been implemented since the 80s. The starting point of these strategies was the "new philosophy" defined by Feigenbaum: Total Quality Control.
Of these, particular interest is the concept of total quality managemt used in parallel, or in relation to the "total quality."
In the definition of total quality management (TQM) more guidelines can be highlighted.
a) The vast majority of authors agree that TQM is, above all, a new philosophy, a new model of enterprise culture, with the aim to orient towards customers all its activities and processes and optimize them so that they could bring long-term benefits.
According to Drummond (Drummond, H 1992, 13), for example, TQM is a business philosophy based on customer satisfaction through quality orientation of the entire organization.
Koller (Koller, J., K 1995) defines TQM as representing a systematic way of managing an organization's results. TQM involves new management strategies, changes in culture and infrastructure, tools and techniques to determine all members of the organization to collaborate and enable continuous improvement of quality defined by the client.
b) A number of authors point out, defining TQM, besides its philosophical dimension, the technical and social aspects that are involved in this philosophy.
In Oess's opinion (Strauss, B. 1994, 202), for example, TQM must be approached as a two-component system, including a technical and a social subsystem of inter-relationships being established between them.
c) According to another orientation (Kélada, J. 1990, 36-37), TQM is a three-dimensional concept, a management philosophy based on a certain logic that involves the use of specific methods and techniques, resulting its third dimension, the technical one.
In essence, TQM is a philosophy of business management dealing with getting continuous improvement of customer satisfaction through quality management products and services, led in the entire company. TQM is a new approach to corporate management by applying total quality ideas across the organization.
The advantages of implementing TQM are:
- Improving the company's reputation - faults and problems are identified quickly (the "zero defects");
- Significant improvement in quality of products or services;
- Customer satisfaction increase, which leads to additional sales;
- A significant decrease of resources waste;
- Increased productivity because the staff use the time more efficiently;
- Increasing the market share on the long term;
-The workforce is motivated by additional responsibilities, teamwork and involvement in decision-making on TQM;
- Lower costs;
- Focus on continuous improvement.
2. British Airways overview
British Airways is the national airline of the United Kingdom, the operational headquarter being based in Waterside. The airline is a founding member of the Oneworld alliance with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qantas. British Airways is one of seven airlines that fly to all six inhabited continents.
British Airways carry passengers, cargo and letters from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports. It has expanded its network in more than 500 destinations through joint business agreements with American Airlines and Oneworld alliance members. The carrier manages a fleet of over 240 aircrafts, consisting primarily of Airbus and Boeing. In 2013, British Airways has taken delivery of its first of 42 Boeing 787s, with the first of its 12 Airbus A380s due to touch down in the UK July 4. British Airways is the largest Boeing 747-400 operator in the world. (Low Teacher)
In 2010 British Airways and Iberia have merged and created International Airlines Group.(Slideshare, 2013)
To survive both short-term and long-term on global market, where there is fierce competition between airlines, British Airways had to focus on a variety of goals and objectives.
In this respect, the general objectives of the company are divided into three categories: (UK Essays)
Global - for all passengers - whether they are traveling just for pleasure or on business.
Premium - ensure that passengers receive the highest quality services.
Air - focuses on aviation; owning the best equipment, products and services. Also, British Airways is considering four strategic objectives:
First airline customers top choices - to remain the first choice when it comes to premium international flights, cargo, economy or short flights.
Quality service - to provide the best service to passengers on all routes and in all classes of aircrafts during flight and to improve online services.
Global expansion - to continue to expand its list of destinations, through partnerships with other airlines.
Satisfying customer needs - to explore the latest features and products to enhance customer loyalty.
The main competitors of British Airways are:
1. Deutsche Lufthansa AG - Air Ambassador of Germany, Lufthansa offers flights to 209 destinations in 81 countries worldwide. (Bilete-avion). It manages a fleet of over 300 aircraftsfor passengers.(eSKY) It is also a market leader in international air transport through Lufthansa Cargo. Other major segments of the group are the maintenance, repair and overhaul by Lufthansa Technik services, air catering services by LSG Sky Chefs, and IT services through Lufthansa Systems. (Tourismguide) Lufthansa is a founding member and leader of the Star Alliance, the largest alliance of airlines.
2. Continental Airlines, Inc.-Continental Airlines is the world's fifth largest airline. Continental, together with Continental Express and Continental Connection, has more than 2,600 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 132 domestic and 137 international destinations. Continental is a member of Star Alliance. (Makemytrip, 2015)
3. United Air Lines, Inc. - A leading passenger and cargo airline, United serves more than 230 destinations in some 30 countries. The airline, which also offers regional services via subsidiary United Express, operates a fleet of some 700 mainland aircraft. In addition, it leads the Star Alliance, a marketing and code-sharing group that includes Continental and Lufthansa. (Hoovers, 2015)
3. Implementation of total quality management at British Airways
In order to practice TQM, the main focus was on the British Airways transformation from an engineering based company in one dictated by the market. There are four key factors that contributed to the success of the company, namely:
1. Continuous reduction of costs;
2. Focus on providing excellent customer service at a premium price;
3. Cover growing market through alliances and partnerships;
4. Maximize return on individual flights by investing in computerized reservations. (Law Teacher)
In 1987, the year when the company was privatized, the company management believed that to be the best and to be a world-class organization, they have to use the strategies and processes that should create vision and inspire the employees to gain their trust. This could only be possible by implementing TQM program. It was implemented in British Airways' Technical Workshops. The Technical Workshops (hangars) of British Airways are responsible for the overhaul and the repair of aircraft components.
In order to be the best in this industry, the management team of British Airways Technical Workshops decided that they must win through teamwork, customer satisfaction, profitability and reputation.
Along the "path" to implement TQM, there were identified the following key steps:
1. Conducting a study to diagnose the current position within the technical workshop and reporting results;
2. Obtaining support and a full commitment to TQM concept from all levels of management;
3. Educating staff according to the principles of TQM and facilitate necessary changes in management style;
4. Changes in policies, procedures and work practices that would fit and would facilitate new organizational culture required;
5. Starting the quality improvement process;
6. Reviewing progress made and fostering a sustained commitment from all levels of the organization.
In order to examine the controversial issues and problems facing the staff, a survey was distributed among employees from technical workshops, among customers and in supplying areas. To do this, an analysis of the cost of quality was made.
The approach taken by the company in collecting quality costs was the breakdown of employees activities related to quality in three main activities, namely:
1. Anticipation - activities that provide performance "right first time";
2. Assessment -activities that check if the concept of "right first time" is done;
3. Failure - activities resulting from the failure of the concept "right first time".
Each manager or team leader was asked to make an assessment of how their subordinate staff spent time during activities related to quality. Knowing how to bear the cost of quality has had a significant contribution in educating staff on the concept and principles of TQM. It also helped of strengthening and justification of need for training personnel in accordance with TQM, to overcome any skepticism about TQM, to promote considerable debate on this issue and to ensure that the improvement of individual projects activity can be measured. (Rawlins A. R. 2008)
Data collected from the survey was introduced in a diagnostic report and seven improvement activities have been identified:
1. The way the employees view the company's management;
2. Managerial style;
3. Implementation of changes;
4. Communication;
5. Systems and procedures;
6. Facilities and conditions;
7. Attitude of employees.
They held some courses for managers for three days. These courses have conceptually explained TQM philosophy and revealed findings of the report. Managers were encouraged to submit ideas and action plans for staff involvement in improvement process. This required some changes in managing style.
Similar courses were held for all employees. Delegates of each course were taken from different areas of workshops to facilitate the exchange of ideas between departments. Quality improving groups, each involving up to 12 people, actively conducted projects for improvement.
Examples of projects: improved methods for sorting aircraft test equipment to ensure ease localization and certification control, an improved library for storing approved technical publications and a design of new measures regarding the workshop performance, so that the figures which provide performance to be meaningful and easy to understand.
British Airways Technical Workshops are recognized as the best in the aviation industry, by customers, competitors and even by British Airways itself. Benefits began to appear Two years after the launch of TQM. There have been positive changes in measures of higher level, which were used to report progress to the directorate. These measures included the proportion of components which are in good condition, the number of units that are not in good condition in the workshop and the number of units produced per month. British Airways launched their TQM program in September 1988 and by the end of 1999 the benefits of the program were visible. (Law Teacher)
It is important to note that after implementation of TQM, British Airways continued to apply total quality management on employees, the processes and customers, and the result was successful, as shown in Table 1: turnover increased by 23%, the number of employees fell by 3.153 people, increased the number of passengers who used the company's services, passenger load factor increased from 79.1% to 81.3% and aircraft fleet has grown to 33 aircraft. Although profit has declined and losses were recorded in the period 2008 - early 2010, after this date there is an important increase of this indicator.
4. Conclusions
British Airways, founded in 1935, which is the subject of the case study, is the national airline of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, founding member of the Oneworld Alliance and one of the seven airlines that fly to all six inhabited continents.
The carrier manages a fleet of over 240 aircraft, consisting primarily of Airbus and Boeing.
Total Quality Management was implemented by British Airways in September 1988 from the technical workshops in the desire to improve and contribute to the success of the organization.
TQM program was characterized by customer focus, full participation, process improvement and process management and planning. TQM implementation process was a very long-term procedure.
Thus, in only two years of program implementation, benefits began to appear (e.g. positive changes took place in the top-level measures).
The company also had to experience many changes made on TQM program requirements and extensive market research that identified customer expectations for the standards to be served by an international airline known as British Airways.
5. References
Baltescu, Codruta Adina, and Dana Boscor. 2014. "The Assessment of Hotel Services in Poiana Brasov Resort". Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov, Series V, Vol. 7(56), 17-22.
Drummond, H. 1992. The Quality Movement. What Total Quality Management is Really All about! London: Kogan Page.
Kélada, Joseph. 1990. La gestion intégrale de la qualité. Pour une qualité totale. Québec: Edition Quafec.
Koller, J. K. 1995. Total Quality Management in Service Industry, European Masters Programme in Total Quality Management. Germany: University of Kaiserslautern.
Neacsu, Nicoleta Andreea. 2011. Protectia Consumatorului (Consummer Protection). Brasov: Transilvania University Publishing House.
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Anca MADAR1
1 Transilvania University of Bras ov, [email protected]
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Total Quality Management (TQM) has an important role in any company, since the implementation of this program companies can continuously improve their performance. Thus, organizations will be able to considerably meet their internal and external clients' needs in terms of services and products quality, and they will also be able to develop an efficient and profitable business. The paper analyzes how this concept was implemented by the British Airways airline, since it is among the first companies that have implemented such a program.
Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, tqm implementation issues: review and case study.
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
ISSN : 0144-3577
Article publication date: 1 June 2000
TQM is a philosophy mainly dominated by large companies. Small businesses are lagging behind larger ones when it comes to introducing and adopting new managerial philosophies and advanced technology. Many small companies have stopped at quality system certification, such as ISO 9000, in their quality journey rather than pursuing further continuous improvement efforts through TQM. Small businesses must understand the need to go beyond the quality system stage and work towards a total approach for quality. Only through this total approach will their quality effort be a success. Discusses the various issues confronting small businesses when embarking on TQM. First, reviews the subject of TQM and the quality initiatives undertaken by small businesses (which are treated as small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs)) such as ISO 9000 and TQM. The small business characteristics are also examined. Second, presents a case study conducted in a small manufacturing company. Culminates with conclusions and discussions drawn from both the review and the case study with suggestions for future research directions.
Yusof, S.M. and Aspinwall, E. (2000), "TQM implementation issues: review and case study", International Journal of Operations & Production Management , Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 634-655. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443570010321595
Copyright © 2000, MCB UP Limited
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