Implementation of strategic quality change in organization

Due to their desire to participate in this market, Toyota is working to comprehend the concepts, principles, and practices related with quality management. The company has made the decision to compete on quality rather than price. As the company's internal quality consultant, you have been hired. You must examine the organization's current quality management system before implementing a strategic quality change, making sure the essential monitoring and evaluation processes are in place, and assessing the change's results. In order to understand strategic quality change, we need to define the term strategy. Strategy is defined as “the art and science of planning and marshalling resources for their most efficient and effective use. The term is derived from the Greek word for generalship or leading an army” (""What is a strategy? definition and meaning - BusinessDictionary.com,"" n.d.). Strategic quality management incorporates strategic management and quality change. Strategic management is the creation and implementation of main objectives taken by an organization in line with the available resources while considering both external and internal environments wherein the company competes. Thus, a company’s life revolves around its strategic plans. On the other hand, Quality management entails the production of reliable products and services that are coherent and satisfy the customer’s needs.

Many organizations depend on change in order to make considerable progress in sales. Strategic quality change is a very powerful tool when it comes to organizations and performance. For instance, Toyota has been on the top as the world’s most valuable car brand. This is simply because they pay much attention to a strategized quality change in all their operations. The process of maintaining a strategized quality change depends on quite a number of factors. This paper discusses each of them and gives credibility of the need for strategic quality change in any aspiring organization. These factors include:

• The role of operations management in an organization.
• The importance of quality management
• Planning for strategic quality change in an organization
• The implementation of the plan
• The evaluation of the strategic quality plan 
• Role of operations management

Operations management revolves around the design operations used in transforming the nature of products and services so as to obtain classic and standard outputs. Operations management is employed in every organization and it depends on the kind of business or economic activity being undertaken. The kind of operations being done in a firm will directly affect the end product. In most cases, the operations manager outlines the steps that need to be taken when delivering a product or service. As earlier stated, this steps vary depending on the type of processes being performed. For our case, Toyota as a company has its own set methods used in operations. Since they are an automotive company, all operations concerned with a certain type of car, say Lexus, are carefully designed and implemented according to the specifications that the car should have. The quality of the materials used, the time spent in coming up or refining the engine all this are considered in the initial stages of operations management. In order to achieve its objectives, there are various things that Toyota could have considered in their OM plan. Certainly, decision making is one of them and it carries with it a number of technical sections. These are tactical decisions, strategic decisions, and operational decisions.

Tactical decision making- From the word itself, this decision making process requires experience and style. Operations management assists in organizing all resources of a firm in an effective way so as not to compromise the future of the company. The staff, the company’s tangible assets, liquid money, and other possessions of the company are all regulated with the aid of past and present performance records of the company. This procedure also affects, the delivery of supplies (Porter, 2011, p. 27) and the timing of operations kick off. For instance, in tactical decision making, Toyota as a company will have to examine the materials being delivered that will go to the chassis of the car, the doors, framework, and dashboard. This process should be continuous and is done for every part regardless of the cost.

Strategic decision making- The Company has to analyze the current limitations being experienced by the company as well as the positive advances being made before making any haste decision. Operations management helps to achieve this. For smooth operations to be seen, the future state of the company has to be sustained by the current. Any decisions made which touch on major changes such as the links established with other potential markets, technological alterations among others, depend on OM.

Operational decision making- OM plays a big part in planning and monitoring decisions (Pycraft, 2000, p. 33). However, this depends on the first decision making process. Tactical decisions and operational decisions have to be done in consideration of each other. Operational decisions are mostly centered on individual targets of departments or various subsections in a company. That dictates that for any departmental delay, a negative effect is likely to be reverberated through the entire system. For example, Toyota has various departments that are concerned with unique duties. The quality assurance department being one of them relies on the production department. This two can be simultaneously done together but it would cumbersome and ineffective. A slight delay in the part by part production sector will also delay the quality assurance department operations. This is because quality checking and assessment is done on already produces parts to determine whether they are consistent in meeting the international standards set for the consumer. 

Success of existing operations in meeting organization’s (Toyota) objectives

Toyota car automaker focuses on producing high quality products with the minimum cost possible. This has been a Toyota rule since the very foundations of the company were laid in Aichi Japan by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1931. Toyota has been very successful and has far out phased its closest competitors BMW and Mercedes in terms of sales. The success of the company is attributed to its ever innovative team and operations management. Below are some of the existing operations in the company that escalated it to success.

Unique design of goods and services

Design in Toyota is very critical for success. The company meets the operation management strategic decision by quality and technological innovation. The operations managers analyze the various designs produced, the relative market sales and global sale coverage. Good designs and services delivered help build the company’s name which in turn builds trust. This is strategic in the sense that advanced technological quality models designed are sold to consumers. The company also utilizes the Research and Development (R&D) criteria to assure customers of high end products with ultimate customer experience features. According to Pycraft effective product design is a must for any company to perform extra ordinarily (Pycraft, 2000, p. 131). This does not mean that Toyota’s competitors do not do good designs, it only attests the need for good products for any company anticipates to be at the top. For Toyota, design process begins with the market research (Galloway, 1996, p. 29). A perfect knowledge is needed on the kind of market that exists out there. A mastery of it (of which is what Toyota does) keeps a company at a good standing.

Strategized location

Companies need a well distributed plan for them to cover their intended markets well. Toyota has achieved this by placing its branches worldwide. By doing so all consumers are well catered for. The presence of such a strategic plan influences the remote markets which have a considerable effect on the stake as well.

Management of Inventory

Inventory keeping is done by all mega companies including Toyota. However, Toyota has a unique way of addressing this strategic decision issue by using Just-in-Time inventory management. This helps reduce the size of inventory and any related costs that come with it. The system is used by Toyota production line in delivering the exact number of vehicles as per the consumers’ orders. This is unmistakably one of the most effective feature and strategic plan that Toyota has ever made.

Maintenance and Scheduling

The use of companies’ assets to aid in the maintenance of cars globally is also another strategic milestone achieved by Toyota. Highly advanced technological facilities have been deployed by Toyota in all its global branches. This serves to maintain its products even at the hands of its trusted customers securing their trust. Maintenance is also closely related to the scheduling system of the company through lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing is a strategic plan used by Toyota to cut costs that do not really contribute to the value of the end product. By use of this method, the company provides for customers the features they require at a minimum cost.

Logistics in Manufacturing

Operations management closely monitors production and project management, achieving the economy of scale effects. In manufacturing, OM helps reduce production costs and add on to the revenue basket. Through the use of several plans, OM helps in the setting of benchmarks so that a company like Toyota can realize the best way to conduct business.

Jon design

Toyota deploys the Toyota Production System (TPS) which is a unique strategy used only by the company (""Toyota’s Operations Management, 10 Decisions, Productivity - Panmore Institute,"" n.d.). This job design provides quality products at a relatively low cost. This system has inspired other automotive companies to produce same systems that encourage mass sales without compromising on quality. 

 The importance of managing quality in an organization

Quality is a term used for high end and durable products which are used for optimum results (""Contradictions That Drive Toyota’s Success,"" n.d.). Firms cannot compromise on the quality since it is the one thing that defines what a company stands for. Therefore managing quality in an organization is inevitable for any international company. Quality mostly entails goods and services provided by a company. The nature and type of human resource also affects quality either positively or negatively. For a company to claim that it is delivering quality services and goods, its products have to speak for themselves. Hence, automakers like Toyota manage quality through the kind of skilled personnel they hire, the vigorous training done on staff, time management, and the attention to details during operations. All this combination matures to quality products and services which in the long run contributes to the success of a company.

Success of existing Toyota quality management processes in meeting objectives  

The success of Toyota has depended on the quality management systems that have seen drastic changes since the year 1951. The company is guided by principles which ensure quality, as well as quantity, is of products is achieved. On May 1951, the company adopted the creative idea suggestion system which was Ford’s idea. Ford, an American car automaker used the system to improve the quality of products based on the available human resource. Through sharing ideas, Henry Ford, the founder of the company sought to improve Ford motor vehicles and increase sales. Toyota took up the idea and implemented the first creative idea on June 1951. This was furthered by an award ceremony to honor individuals who came up with creative ideas. The success of this system was seen as staff became more creative over the years. This system has continued till recently when the number of suggestions surpassed 40 million. Even though Toyota’s system has seen a number of changes, good came out of it. The company was able to compete and eventually out compete other automakers such as Ford in US, Mercedes, Chrysler and other based in Europe which started much earlier before Toyota. 

Planning a strategic quality change in an organization

Establishing a strategic quality change in any organization serves to eliminate the initial loopholes that existed in the previous strategy. Firms have to be adapting always and testing new strategic plans even when current ones are just doing well. The need for strategic quality change aims at improving quality standards, raising the sales margin and merging to new technological advancements. Toyota has experienced its own share in terms of changes being made through OM. Some of the factors to consider when establishing and designing a strategic quality change include research phase and developing phase (""Quality Excellence Begins with Strategic Quality Planning | | Business Improvement Architects,"" n.d.). In research phase you should consider the following:

1. The current strategic plan that exists in the organization

Before making any changes as an operation manager, one should review the strategic plan that is in use. This will help in identifying some of the gaps that exist in the organization. Through this gaps, a list that entails remedies is developed. It also acquaints one with the various quality management systems that are used and the possible suggestions made by the strategic team or board. 

2. Quality initiatives of the organization

After the reviewing process, the next step sets in. In any company before any change is made or before a new system is set, an initial one presents the various quality initiatives that were used or proposed. A careful examination of the initiatives may give the new operation’s manager some hints on how to carry out his newly appointed task. This stage also raises questions such as; what can be added to the proposed quality initiatives? What other plans haven’t been explored? How will the changes affect the future of a company? Why is the change needed?

A close look at such questions will lead to a quick realization of what needs to be done. The quality team may realize that the initial plans failed may be because of lack of follow up, due to overambitious plans, a miscalculated move, or organization’s culture clash/interference. All this are possible reasons that the new team will have to deal with, or avoid some such as culture that are likely to raise similar issues.

3. Know the customer’s expectations

It is imperative for the manager to know the customers’ wants and requirements otherwise the whole change will be null and void. Without the customer in mind, there is no effective change that can be made to make any positive progress or impact. Even though the organization has its own objectives to be met for instance increase in sales, the customers’ needs will always go first. The value given to the customer will translate to organization’s value. This is because the customer is the center of attention. His needs will help the research team identify the problems in the organization. Thus, customers’ voice should always remain paramount. 

4. Employee feedback

By engaging the staff members in a discussion, the manager can establish critical points of interest. This insight will then be used to develop plans which can be used as the end factor. Through discussions, the burden is also lessened for the research team. 

5. Benchmarking

The last step in research is the conducting a benchmark. Through going out and visiting other organizations, one can learn about their systems and way of handling things. This can then be incorporated in the organization if need be. Benchmarking has always helped in solving problems within organizations.

In the strategic or developing phase, the following should be considered:

6. Developing a quality vision and policy

Developing a vision gives the organization hope and focus. Through vision, the probability of achieving the desired goal is very high as all employees will work towards achieving it. The vision has to include the kind of markets that are hard to reach, and the average number of customers that are targeted. For vision to be achieved policies have to be set (Hino, 2008, p. 114). Thus, vision and policy go hand in hand. Clear policies define the organizations objectives well and clears any doubt. The other factors to consider in this stage are effective plans and quality strategies which should catapult the company’s success.

Implementing strategic quality change in an organization

In order to implement strategic quality management, the minds of the staff need to be prepared by ensuring that they are well informed. This will prevent resisting change from within. The manager needs to make it official and warrant members the freedom to raise their concerns. The following are some of the steps that should be followed in order to implement change.

1. Supportive leadership- The leaders have to show unity and commitment towards the proposed changes. Otherwise, it would be difficult to carry on.
2. Need for change- for change to be accepted or justified there should be need for it. A manager can’t just start proposing changes without reason for it. 
3. Employee involvement- It is ethical for employees to be involved before the change is implemented. When dealing with quality of products and services, it is the employees who are associated with them. For instance, the way in which operations are done by the production team in Toyota requires updates so as necessary changes are made. 
4. Communicating change- As stated, the changes made need to be communicated to all in the organization. Poor communication is catastrophic for any company.
5. Implementation and follow up- When the changes have been made and well communicated, action begins and relevant follow up starts. This is the final stage of the implementation process.

In addition to implementing the change, the culture needs to be rooted in the company. Toyota could do this by conducting random oral tests, follow ups, and emphasizing on the changes with the help of the top office.

Evaluation and monitoring the outcomes of a strategic quality change in an organization

Normally, after some weeks, the results of the changes made can be seen. This requires the managers to start evaluating the outcomes as soon as possible. This is a process that needs to be done carefully so as to note the non-responsive areas. This can be done by asking the following questions, Are there any achievements so far? Will the goals be achieved within the stipulated period? Are there adequate resources? Is the plan realistic? Such questions and other related questions will help in evaluating the results. 

In conclusion, the frequency of monitoring and evaluation should be high so as to ensure smooth operations and a secure future for the company. Toyota as a car brand depends on all the mentioned and discussed factors to remain at the top. However, new systems are being developed that will incorporate advanced software which will help in market analysis and predicting the general global trend in sales. 

References

Galloway, R. L. (1996). Operations management: The basics.

Hino, S. (2008). Inside the mind of Toyota: Management principles for enduring growth. New York, NY: Productivity Press.

Pycraft, M. (2000). Operations management. Cape Town: Pearson Education South Africa.

Porter, A. (2011). Operations Management (p. 27). Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=PmhRutsGbXgC&pg=PA26&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false

Quality Excellence Begins with Strategic Quality Planning | | Business Improvement Architects. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://bia.ca/quality-excellence-begins-with-strategic-quality-planning/

Toyota’s Operations Management, 10 Decisions, Productivity - Panmore Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://panmore.com/toyota-operations-management-10-decisions-areas-productivity

The Contradictions That Drive Toyota’s Success. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2008/06/the-contradictions-that-drive-toyotas-success

What is a strategy? definition and meaning - BusinessDictionary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/strategy.html