Thursday, May 12, 2016

TQM and Strategic Planning

Total Quality Management and strategic planning provide an organization with the tools to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Total Quality Management focuses the organization's goals on a system of quality and meeting the needs of the customer. Strategic planning is a tool that helps to prioritize the efforts of the organization in the implementation of a Total Quality Management approach.

Total Quality Management
Total Quality Management is an approach an organization takes to improve quality and meet customer requirements by controlling processes. The production approach requires participation from everyone in the organization. Quality improvement teams, process controls and measurements identify flaws in production processes and areas that require improvement.

Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is a process an organization uses to prioritize and focus the efforts of the company as well as the implementation of a plan. A company uses strategic planning to predict and anticipate changes in the business environment and position the company to respond. Companies must develop an edge in the marketplace that differentiates the organization from all other businesses. An environment and reputation for customer value and quality is one approach to meeting the demands of customers.

Using Strategic Planning in Total Quality Management
Implementing a strategic planning process in a company's Total Quality Management approach requires the organization to analyze and evaluate the needs of customers to determine the best approach to meet their needs. The final product and goal of the organization is creating value for consumers. The organization must make quality a top priority for everyone in the company, from top managers to the workers building product.

Total Quality Management Planning Tools
The Total Quality Management approach has strategic planning tools available for the organization to use when developing a quality plan. For example, a priorities matrix provides a method to prioritize and evaluate quality options for meeting customer demands. In addition, the organization may use tools such as a tree diagram, matrix diagram and a process decision tool to determine the best approach for satisfying customers.

The strategic planning can be performed by any organization. It can be highly effective, allowing the organizations to do the right thing at the right time, every time.

There are seven steps to strategic Quality Planning:

  1. Customer Needs: The first step is to discover the future needs of the customers. Who will they be? Will your customer base change? What will they want? How will they want? How will the organization meet and exceed expectations?
  2. Customer Positioning: Next, the planners determine where organization wants to be in relation to the customers. Do they want to retain, reduce, or expand the customer base. Product or services with poor quality performance should be targeted for breakthrough or eliminated. The organization’s needs to concentrate its efforts on areas of excellence.
  3. Predict the future: Next planners must look into their crystal balls to predict the future conditions that will affect their product or service. Demographics, economics forecasts, and technical assessments or projections are tools that help predict the future.
  4. Gap Analysis : This step requires the planner to identify the gaps between the current state and the future state of the organization. An analysis of the core values and concepts is an excellent technique for pinpointing  gaps.
  5. Closing the Gap: The plan can now be developed to close the gap by establishing goals and responsibilities. All stakeholders should be included in the development of the plan.
  6. Alignment: As the plan is developed, it must be aligned with the mission, vision, and core values and concepts of the organization. Without this alignment, the plan will have little chance of success.
  7. Implementation: This last step is frequently the most difficult. Resources must be allocated to collecting data, designing changes, and overcoming resistance to change. Also part of this step is the monitoring activity to ensure that progress is being made. The planning group should meet at least once a year to assess progress and take any corrective action.

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