Chapter 2- FOUNDATIONS OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Quiz 1

Giovanni L. Roa

Score:

Questions and Answers

Try to answer the following questions to give you a better understanding

of the lessons discussed in this chapter.

1. List and briefly explain the eight principles of quality management.

Principle 1: Customer focus

The first, and arguably most important principle, argues that a

business wouldn’t exist without its customers. Therefore, organisations

should strive to understand their current and future customers, in order to

better meet their requirements and expectations. 

This principle extols the virtues of strong, purposeful and unifying

leadership. Leaders are responsible for creating a productive and

progressive business environment. They also are in charge of ensuring

that future hires maintain that atmosphere. 

Principle 3: People involvement

Just as your business would be nowhere without a customer base, it also

wouldn’t get very far without a balanced, multi-skilled team either.

Employees at every level of the organisation are crucial to its success,

and this principle is all about recognising that. 

Principle 4: Process approach

A process-driven approach can help companies to avoid logistical

problems that often stem from confusion over the right way to go about

things. It also future-proofs your business, as having set processes ensures

that there’s no moment of flat panic when a key team member moves on,

leaving everyone in the dark about key elements of their job.

This principle is linked to the previous one, and argues that

identifying, understanding and managing processes using a clear system

will help to streamline your business. By ensuring that team members are

dedicating the right amount of attention to key tasks, you’ll eliminate

wasted time and make your business more efficient.

Principle 6: Continual improvement

As the old adage goes, if you’re not going forwards, you’re going

backwards. A business should always be pushing for improvements,

because if you’re not, you can bet that your competitors will be. 

Principle 7: Factual Approach to Decision Making

This principle states that effective decisions are made based on

rational analysis of data. Whilst a gut feeling can be useful in some

situations, it won’t really stand up when you’re explaining to your board

accurate data, another vital aspect for a modern-day business.

Whether your business provides goods or services to customers,

it’s likely you’ll rely on some sort of supplier. This principle dictates that

relationships between your company and any suppliers must be mutually

beneficial in order to add value to both parties. It allows both of you to

react more quickly and flexibly to customer demands if things are smooth

and harmonious between you, as well as making it easier to negotiate on

costs. 

2. Summarize Deming’s 14 Points. How does each point relate to the four

components of Profound Knowledge?

The 14 Points
1.Create a constant purpose toward improvement.

 Plan for quality in the long term.

 Resist reacting with short-term solutions.

 Don't just do the same things better – find better things to do.

 Predict and prepare for future challenges, and always have the goal

of getting better.
2.Adopt the new philosophy.

 Embrace quality throughout the organization.

 Put your customers' needs first, rather than react to competitive

pressure – and design products and services to meet those needs.

 Be prepared for a major change in the way business is done. It's

about leading, not simply managing.

 Create your quality vision, and implement it.

3.Stop depending on inspections.

 Inspections are costly and unreliable – and they don't improve

quality, they merely find a lack of quality.

 Build quality into the process from start to finish.

 Don't just find what you did wrong – eliminate the "wrongs"

altogether.

 Use statistical control methods – not physical inspections alone –

to prove that the process is working.

4.Use a single supplier for any one item.

Quality relies on consistency – the less variation you have in the input,

the less variation you'll have in the output.

time improving their own quality – they shouldn't compete for your

business based on price alone.

Analyze the total cost to you, not just the initial cost of the product.

Use quality statistics to ensure that suppliers meet your quality standards.

Improve constantly and forever.

5.Continuously improve your systems and processes.

 Deming promoted the Plan-Do-Check-Act  approach to process

analysis and improvement.

 Emphasize training and education so everyone can do their jobs

better.

 Use kaizen  as a model to reduce waste and to improve

productivity, effectiveness, and safety.

6.Use training on the job.

 Train for consistency to help reduce variation.

 Build a foundation of common knowledge.

 Allow workers to understand their roles in the "big picture."

 Encourage staff to learn from one another, and provide a culture

and environment for effective teamwork.

 Expect your supervisors and managers to understand their workers

and the processes they use.

 Don't simply supervise – provide support and resources so that

each staff member can do his or her best. Be a coach instead of a

policeman.

 Figure out what each person actually needs to do his or her best.

 Emphasize the importance of participative management and

transformational leadership.

 Find ways to reach full potential, and don't just focus on meeting

targets and quotas.

8.Eliminate fear.

 Allow people to perform at their best by ensuring that they're not

afraid to express ideas or concerns.

 Let everyone know that the goal is to achieve high quality by doing

more things right – and that you're not interested in blaming people

when mistakes happen.

 Make workers feel valued, and encourage them to look for better

ways to do things.
  Ensure that your leaders are approachable and that they work with

teams to act in the company's best interests.

 Use open and honest communication to remove fear from the

organization.

9.Break down barriers between departments.

 Build the "internal customer" concept – recognize that each

department or function serves other departments that use their

output.

 Build a shared vision.

 Use cross-functional teamwork to build understanding and reduce

adversarial relationships.

 Focus on collaboration and consensus instead of compromise.

10.Get rid of unclear slogans.

 Let people know exactly what you want – don't make them guess.

"Excellence in service" is short and memorable, but what does it

mean? How is it achieved? The message is clearer in a slogan like

"You can do better if you try."

 Don't let words and nice-sounding phrases replace effective

leadership.
  Outline your expectations, and then praise people face-to-face for

doing good work.

11.Eliminate management by objectives.

 Look at how the process is carried out, not just numerical targets.

Deming said that production targets encourage high output and low

quality.

 Provide support and resources so that production levels and quality

are high and achievable.

 Measure the process rather than the people behind the process.

12.Remove barriers to pride of workmanship.

 Allow everyone to take pride in their work without being rated or

compared.

 Treat workers the same, and don't make them compete with other

workers for monetary or other rewards.

 Over time, the quality system will naturally raise the level of

everyone's work to an equally high level.

13.Implement education and self-improvement.

 Improve the current skills of workers.

and challenges.

 Build skills to make your workforce more adaptable to change, and

better able to find and achieve improvements.

14.Make "transformation" everyone's job.

 Improve your overall organization by having each person take a

step toward quality.

 Analyze each small step, and understand how it fits into the larger

picture.