Total Quality Management – MGT510 spring 2010 solution
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Posted In MGT Edit ThisThe Ford Motor Company entered the 1980s with two years of losses totaling over $1.6 billion, and then-chairman Donald E. Petersen grew to realize that consumers were disappointed in the performance of automobiles built In the United States. He had to restore customer, satisfaction by improving quality and put the company back into overdrive by increasing productivity.
One of Petersen’s first moves was an appeal for help from quality guru W. Edwards Deming, who started by ‘focusing management attention on processes and the people involved in those processes. Next, under the banner “Quality is Job 1,” Petersen instituted an array of programs designed to increase quality and productivity by obtaining greater input from customers, employees, and suppliers. New consumer surveys, dubbed competitive new vehicle quality (CNVQ) studies are reviewed twice a month at meetings that typically involve 100 Ford people and List from four to seven hours, Consumer comments are used to tune the design and performance standards of Ford cars to better provide what customers want.
An employee involvement (El) program was designed to obtain as much input as possible from the company’s employees. In the spirit of participative management, managers and employees are now expected to share power in the workplace, solving problems jointly. Every week, more than 30 of these El warns meet to discuss new ideas for improving Ford cars. In the company’s new design for a Lincoln Town Car, over 2,600 suggestions from employees were incorporated into the final product.
From the above case study determine the following
1. How TQ organizations differs from the traditional organizations in terms of
a. Changing Relationship with Customers and Supplier 5
Answer : In traditional management, quality is defined as adherence to internal specifications and standards. Quality is defined as adherence to internal specifications and standards. Quality is measured only by the absence of defects. Inspection of people’s work by others is necessary to control defects. In TQ, quality is defined as products and services beyond present needs and expectations of customers. Innovation is required to meet and exceed customers’ needs. Traditional management places customers outside of the enterprise and within the domain of marketing and sales. TQ views everyone inside the enterprise as a customer of an internal or external supplier, and a supplier of an external or internal customer. Marketing concepts and tools can be used to assess internal customer needs and to communicate internal supplier capabilities.
b. Motivation 5
Answer : TQ organizations support the premise of workers are self-motivated, seek responsibility, and exhibit a high degree of imagination and creativity at work. TQ managers provide leadership rather than overt intervention in the processes of their subordinates, who are viewed as process managers rather than functional specialists. People are motivated to make meaningful contributions to what they believe is an important and noble cause, of value to the enterprise and society. TQ reward systems recognize individual as well as team contributions and reinforce cooperation.
c. Management and Leadership 5
Answer : Traditional management views people as interchangeable commodities, developed to meet the perceived needs of the enterprise. People are passive contributors with little autonomy-doing what they are told and nothing more. TQ views people as the enterprise’s true competitive edge. Leadership provides people with opportunities for personal growth and development. People are able to take pride and joy in learning and accomplishment, and the ability of the enterprise to succeed is enhanced. People are active contributors, valued for their creativity and intelligence. Every person is a process manager presiding over the transformation of inputs to outputs of greater value to the enterprise and to the ultimate customer. 5
2. How did Ford motors get competitive advantage on the basis of quality strategy? 5
Answer : Ford as company take the lead started by ‘focusing management attention on processes and the people involved in those processes.
Next move is “Quality is Job 1,” implement an array of programs designed to increase quality and productivity by obtaining greater input from customers, employees, and suppliers and further revised consumer surveys, dubbed Competitive new vehicle quality (CNVQ) studies are reviewed twice a month at meetings that typically involve 100 Ford people and lasted from four to seven hours, Consumer comments are used to tune the design and performance standards of Ford cars to better provide what customers want.
An employee involvement (El) program was designed to obtain as much input as possible from the company’s employees. In the spirit of participative management, managers and employees are now expected to share power in the workplace, solving problems jointly.