OPERATION MANAGEMENT & TQM

OM-01
INTRODUCTION TO OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
& TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operations Management is about the processes to distribute and produce products and
services. Besides, the nature of Operations Management is carried out in an
organization depends very much on the nature of the products or services in the organization.

Moreover, Operations Management is concerned with planning, organizing, supervising in

the contexts of production and manufacturing of the services. Therefore, operations
management often includes substantial measurement and analysis of internal processes.

It involves ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as few resources as
needed and able in terms of meeting customer requirements. Put different operations
management is concerned with managing the process that converts inputs (in the forms
of raw materials, labor, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods or services).

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Total Quality Management begins with a focus on the customer and is boundless,
with life-time dedication to continuous improvement. It is also a process of controlled
change that comprises the entire employees in the improvement of the quality of the products
and services to boost the productivity of the organization.

TQM engages everybody in the organization from the top management to the lowest position.
Essential to the TQM approach is the transformation in management philosophy regarding
“responsibility for quality”.

Also, Total Quality Management aims to hold all parties involved in the production
process accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service.

Moreover, Total quality management (TQM) is the continual process of detecting and reducing
or eliminating errors in manufacturing, streamlining supply chain management and
improving the customer experience, and ensuring that employees are up to speed with training.

Therefore, the focus of the process is to improve the quality of an organization's

outputs, including goods and services, through continual improvement of internal
practices.
As a current focus of e-business, TQM is based on quality management from the customer’s
point of view.

The common element of the business definitions is that the quality of a product or service
refers to the perception of the degree to which the product or service meets the customer's
expectations. Quality needs total control to monitor the business operation properly. Quality will
let your companies establish good products and services. Quality needs controlled
process improvement, allowing companies to exceed customer’s expectations.

Quality can only observe through the eyes of the customers. Communications will be the
key. Going beyond customer expectations guarantees meeting all the definitions of quality.
Quality is more than just finished products. It is the processes, systems, and people
that are behind the product. Quality is everybody's responsibility.

Quality is the pursuit of excellence, striving to be the best we can, and getting ahead of
our competitors. It is meeting the needs and expectations of all stakeholders – our
customers, our suppliers, our staff, and the community at large.

ROLE OF THE OPERATION MANAGER

& CORE CONCEPTS OF TQM

ROLE OF THE OPERATION MANAGER

An operations manager is in charge of making sure that production processes run

smoothly. That includes fine-tuning production processes to ensure quality, holding down
the costs of materials and labor, and cutting costs that don’t add value to the finished product.

As you might expect, the role of an operations manager is broad, encompassing many
operational areas. While other managers may focus on a specific area, such as finance,
accounting, or human resources, and operations manager interacts This is because operations
management includes so many different kinds of tasks—logistics, budgeting, supplier relations,
purchasing, staffing, and many more.

As globalization has increased competition, the operations manager’s job responsibilities have
increased in both scope and importance. Some key activities that operations managers
perform include the following:

a. Forecasting (predict the future)

b. Supply chain management
c. Quality management
d. Sustainability
CORE CONCEPTS OF TQM

Total Quality Management principles are beneficial to any organization because it

reduces cost, increases staff morale, reduces errors, and increases customer satisfaction.

The following are the core concepts of TQM that can be used to drive the process of
continuous improvement and success of the business:

1. Customer Satisfaction – Companies have to give significant importance to the internal as well
as external customers. A better technique for the companies to use their customers to
learn what makes them equal their performance to the customer’s satisfaction.

2. Internal Customer Satisfaction - Improving your customer satisfaction will

eventually result in a more efficient production process, better service, and ultimately lead to
more satisfied external customers. It is essential to attain a better internal working
relationship to satisfy the needs of customers.

3. All work is a process – Another vital focal point of improvement is that of Business
Process. Therefore, this is a combination of methods, materials, teamwork, and machines that
work collectively to produce a product or service. All process includes natural variability,
and one approach to quality improvement is to progressively reduce variation.

4. Measurement – this will help one focus both on satisfying internal customers and
meeting the requirements of external customers.

Seven generic ways in which the quality of outputs can measure:

a. Defects – work not up to specification
b. Rework – work is requiring correction
c. Scrap – work is thrown away
d. Lost items – work done again
e. Backlogs – work behind schedule
f. Late deliveries – work after the agreed time
g. Surplus items – work not required

5. Synergy in teamwork –Synergy means that when two companies join together, they
will be able to achieve higher levels of success than they would have on their own.
This means the combined companies will be able to generate better results in addition to
creating increased value. Bringing people together within teams with the common goals of
quality improvement aids communication between people, departments, and functional
activities.

6. Continuous improvement cycle – measuring success and continuing the improvement

can be used both externally and internally to stimulate quality improvements.
 Continuous Improvement Cycle is always used in every organization to easily lead afresh
“chemistry” within the organization to achieve and adapt continuous improvements.

7. Prevention – is the goal of all quality assurance. Through proper implementation of

control, quality assurance prevents quality problems.

BENEFITS OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

1. Creates a Good Corporate Culture – this supports the total commitment to customer
satisfaction through continuous improvement.

2. Better reviews from clients / customers – Customers and clients are highly satisfied
with your service or product and performance. By that being said, customers will stay at
your company longer, deepen their relationship with the company.

3. Better performance from employees – Good training performance is the best investment for
each employee. This can boost the performance and morale at the workplace that can
result in employees work hard to achieve the goals of TQM.

SHIFTING FROM TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT TO TQM

Traditional management styles are all essentially managed by results. Managers feel justified
in letting quality standards slip, adjusting output to meet the quotas, and generally
forfeiting the right production standards and procedures to pander results.

Quality-focused management is predicted instead of the quality of the product and

the satisfaction of the customer. In this style, the goal is to produce an extremely high-
quality product without cutting corners on quality and without pandering to profits.
This is a radical departure from traditional styles, which applaud profits above quality
and virtually every other consideration. Therefore, in quality-focused management, profits
improve because the product is better and the customer is willing to pay for it. This type
of management required detailed quality measurement and observance to consistent quality
standards since any drop in quality will be detected by customers and will weaken the success of
this style. Moreover, changing from traditional style to quality-focused style management
requires re-education of managers to become leaders instead of bosses as well as clear
communication of the company’s quality vision. The quality goal must be championed
by everyone, beginning from the top down to the lowest worker.

Total Quality Management has changed the traditional management style forever. It was a
very essential movement in those days. Some of these changes are essential even today.
A few of these changes are discussed below:
1. The traditional way of management focused on internal activities. But in total quality
management, the focus is the customer.
2. Traditionally people thought bad quality products are due to the workers who do not
perform their job properly. One of the major differences is the assignment of the
responsibility of the quality to the management.
3. TQM, unlike traditional management, calls for a high amount of team working. Team
building, especially cross-functional teams are a feature of TQM. These teams will
present the necessary thrust to the implementation process and will push the system
forward, with very little struggle.
4. TQM believes in quality assurance rather than checking.
5. Unlike in traditional management style, total quality management makes decisions on
facts and figures.
6. TQM depends on cyclic thinking. Also, it is continuous. Therefore, improvements are
small, stable, and continuous.

SUMMARY: KEY TAKEAWAYS

✔Total quality management (TQM)

is an ongoing process of detecting and reducing or eliminating errors.
✔It is used to streamline supply chain management, improve customer service, and
ensure that employees are trained.
✔The focus is to improve the quality of an organization's outputs, including goods and
services, through continual improvement of internal practices.
✔Total quality management aims to hold all parties involved in the production process
accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service.
✔A good is a physical product that you can see, touch, or possibly consume.
a. Durable goods (vehicles, dishwashers, and furniture)
b. Nondurable goods (toothpaste, software, clothing, and shoes, and foods).
✔A service is any primary or complementary activity that does not directly produce
physical products.
✔Each good or service in the customer benefit package requires a process to create and deliver
it to customers.
✔The core concepts of TQM can be used to drive the process of continuous improvement
and to develop a framework for quality improvements over many years