NN

A UD T MLE NATON

Brian B. Mansir&
Nicholas R. Schacht
OTIC
flELECTE
FEB 2l1991;5

5
E oilST A
91 2 19
LMI-
2 UGUST 989
 LMI Report PL912R1
Prepared pursuant to Department of Defense Contract MDA903-85-C-0139.
The views expressed here are those of the Logistics Management Institute at
the time of issue but not necessarily those of the Department of Defense.
Permission to quote or reproduce any part - except for Government
purposes - must be obtained from the Logistics Managerr -at Institute.

LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

6400 Goldsboro Road
Bethesda, Maryland 20817-5886
 FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We have prepared this guide to aid DoD in its Total Quality Management
(TQM) implementation effort. Specifically, this guide is directed toward increasing
individual awareness of TQM and of the need for continuous improvement
throughout the DoD and Defense industry. While middle and upper management
and leadership may find our discussions particularly helpful in beginning their TQM
efforts, the principles and actions we address can be used by people at any level in an
organization. We often speak directly to TQM in the Defense context, but our
discussions have meaning for evc-y organization contemplating a continuous-
improvement effort. We hope you find the guide useful in beginning your own
journey of improvement.

We acknowledge contributions from the following people in the drafting and

editing of this guide:

Del Babb, Defense Systems Management College

Bill Cooper, DEMCON Consultants
Steve Dockstader, Navy Personnel Research and Development Center
Frank Doherty, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Production and
Logistics)
Linda Doherty, Navy Personnel Research and Development Center
Harold Hailer, Statistical Studies, Inc.
Charles Holland, QualPro, Inc.
Brian Joiner, Joiner Associates, Inc.
RADM John Kirkpatrick (Ret.)
Ron Moen, Associates in Process Improvement \ ', 2
Sue Reynard, Joiner Associates, Inc. Acoedgion For"
Louis Schultz, Process Management Institute, Inc. ,Cs Ion For
.TIS GRA&I
Bob Sniffin, Navy Personnel Research and Development Center TIc TAB 0
Richard Stimson, Advanced Technology, Inc. ,rannounced 0
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Myron Tribus
Dlstribution/

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Availability Codes
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 CONTENTS

Page
Foreword and Acknowledgments ................................. iii

Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................ 1- 1

Definition .............................................. 1- 3
Challenge .............................................. 1- 3
Background ............................................ 1- 4
Overview ............................................... 1- 5
Summ ary .............................................. 1- 7

Chapter 2. General Strategy for Getting Started .................. 2- 1

Introduction ............................................ 2- 1
Demonstrate Leadership ................................. 2- 3
Build Awareness ........................................ 2- 6
Open and Maintain Lines of Communication ............... 2- 8
Create a Constancy of Purpose ............................ 2- 9
Focus on the Customer ................................... 2-12
Choose Early Efforts in Visible Areas Critical to Success .... 2-14
Develop Teamwork ...................................... 2-16
Provide Support, Training, and Education ................. 2-19
Build Trust and Respect ................................. 2-22
Create an Environment in Which Continuous Improvement
Is a Way of Life ....................................... 2-24
Continuously Improve All Processes ....................... 2-27
Expand Culture to Suppliers ............................. 2-30
Chapter 3. A General Model for Improvement .................... 3- 1

Organizational Transformation Models .................... 3- 2

Process-Improvement Models ............................. 3- 6
Individual-Improvement Models .......................... 3-11
Sum m ary .............................................. 3-15

Reference Material ............................................. Ref. 1-7

Appendix A. Some Models for Improvement ...................... A-1 - A-55

Appendix B. Seven Basic Graphic Tools ......................... B-1 - B-16

V
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Whoever we are, it is often easy to fall into the trap of thinking that our
organization is too big to be affected by our individual actions. That perception is
common and frustrating,and fortunately, it is a false one. Only through the collective
efforts of their individual members do organizations change; organizations are
incapableof changing themselves.

Whatever your position in an organization,your efforts to perform a job and to

improve that performance directly affect the influence you will have in the
organization,the control you will have over your personal situation,and your ability to
manage and lead. Combined with the efforts of others, your effectiveness directly
influences the organization'soverall ability to meet its mission and ultimately affects
our performance as a nation. Furthermore, how we perform today will also affect
future generations.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a means for improving personal

effectiveness and performance and for aligning and focusing all individual efforts
throughout an organization. It provides a framework within which you may
continuously improve everything you do and affect. It is a way of leveraging your
individual effort and extending its effect and its importance throughout an
organizationand beyond.

Total Quality Management is not a destination but a journey toward

improvement. This guidebook will help you get started on that journey. It will help
you understand the benefits of continuous improvement and your role and
responsibilities in leading the improvement effort in your organization. In it, we
briefly explore why continuous improvement is important to each of us. We offer a brief
overview of TQM, describe a core set of individual and organizationalbehavior that
has proven key to successful improvement efforts, and offer a general model for your
improvement effort. This guide will serve as a frame of reference for the ongoing
dialogue about TQM within DoD and its supplier community. And, finally, it will

i-1
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

As you read these

help you set the direction for your own journey of improvement.
words, yourjourney has begun.

I.2
 Introduction

DEFINITION It is apparent to most of us that an ever-

increasing rate of technological change is an
Let's begin our discussion by defining inescapable world reality. More technological
TQM. It is both a philosophy and a set of guiding change has occurred in our lifetime than in all of
principles and practices that represent the preceding history. The same will be true for the
foundation of a continuously improving lives of our children and grandchildren. The
organization. It applies human resources and systems of management that were adequate in
quantitative methods to improve the material the early 1900s will not meet the tougher tests
and services supplied to an organization, all the that we and our children face. The shortcomings
processes within an organization, and the degree of the current management systems are already
to which the needs of the customer are met now evident in dislocations manifest as lack of
and in the future. It integrates fundamental competitiveness, declining manufacturing
management techniques, existing improvement capability, and lost leadership in key
efforts, and technical tools in a disciplined and technologies.
focused continuous improvement process.
As America's largest organization, DoD
Total Quality Management addresses the has begun to face this challenge in part through
quality of management as well as the its TQM initiative. The task ahead is not an easy
management of quality. It involves everyone in one. As DoD seeks to transform and
an organization in a systematic long-term continuously improve how it does business, it is
endeavor to develop processes that are customer simultaneously confronted with ever-increasing
oriented, flexible and responsive, and constantly weapon system complexity and cost, increasingly
improving in quality. Quality includes any constrained budgets, a growing diversity of
factor ofproduct or service of value to a customer. threat technologies, and a narrowing
Ultimately, TQM is a means through which an technological and qualitative edge over potential
organization creates and sustains a culture adversaries. To meet that challenge, DoD must
committed to continuous improvement, look to you, its leaders in the Military Services
and defense industries, to bring to bear the best
CHALLENGE available management technologies to make
possible the essential transformation.
We are entering a challenging period in
our history. The challenges that face us will test Organizational transformation starts with
our nation, our organizations, and each of us your individual initiative and leadership. That
individually as managers and leaders. Those leadership is essential, especially at the top of
challenges arise from a revolution of information the organization, but also at every level and in
technology that is fundamentally and everyarea. lf we are to succeed, every member of
permanently changing how we do work. The the defense establishment must become involved
dislocations that are already becoming apparent in the effort. At the core of this guide is the
are or will be as profound as those that marked message that we must not wait for the
the transition from the Agricultural Age to the organization to guide us toward change; rather,
Machine Age. Those who can recognize the we, as individuals and as teams, must lead and
importance of these changes and that can adapt help to transform our organization through
to meet them will be the leaders in this new age. learning and adapting.
Those who are too slow to learn and adapt will
face great difficulty. The challenge therefore is a personal one.
You must decide how and when to begin your

1-3
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

journey toward continuous improvement. Your scientific management. Those approaches were
future and that of your organization will both be reductionist in nature and patterned on the very
influenced by your decision. machines that shaped the age. They were
characterized by breaking things down into their
BACKGROUND fundamental elements and by making each
element optimal. These approaches were
Technological developments have been the appropriate for their time but they did not result
precursors of each of the major world in optimal systems. Dr. Russell Ackoff
transformations we characterize as an age. In illustrates that point with the following
the past the people alive at the dawning of an age example: Suppose you were to acquire all the
were largely unaware of the events that would makes of automobile produced in the world and
ultimately alter the lives of their offspring. The systematically select from the set the best
processes of cultural transformation in all carburetor, transmission, brakes, and so forth.
previous ages were relatively slow and their When you attempt to assemble the world's best
impact on societies gradual and diffuse. We are possible automobile from the collection of best
witnessing the birth of a "Systems Age" that will parts, however, you would not even be able to
replace the "Machine Age" spawned by the produce an automobile because the parts would
Industrial Revolution. The very technologies not fit. The performance of the whole is not the
that are the precursors of the Systems Age make sum of the performance of the parts; it is a
it possible for us to become rapidly aware of consequence of the relationship between the
events and make it inevitablc that our lives, not performance of the parts.
just those of our descendants, will be forever
changed. Machine Age management technology
does not enable us to synthesize and understand
The end of an age does not occur with the information in sufficient breadth to comprehend
throw of a switch. Rather one age fades into the the relationships of performance among the
next and is characterized by people struggling parts to permit the system to be effectively
with the problems of the new age using the tools, optimum. As illustrated in Figure 1-1,
techniques, and paradigms of the past age. performance dramatically improved during the
These struggles are marked by the cultural Machine Age but was constrained by the
dislocations that occur as societies attempt to limitations inherent in making optimum the
adapt to the new world reality. Eventually those performance of each of the parts. The tools and
societies that successfully develop and adapt new techniques associated with information
and more appropriate tools, techniques, and technology have made it possible to deal more
cultural paradigms emerge as leaders. Often the effectively with the larger and more complex
rise and fall of nations is a function of their management of whole systems. The philosophy
ability to adapt to the world's technological of management most appropriate for the new age
transformations. has only begun to evolve. However, we are
better able to focus on its elements as
Many of us are still employing the tools, organizations around the world experiment with
techniques, and paradigms of the Machine Age alternative management approaches. Many of
as we begin to deal with the problems and the new management principles are based on the
complexities of the new Systems Age. The theories of Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, and other
management methods that still predominate are pioneers of Systems Age management methods.
based on the theories of Taylor, Galbraith, Performance has again begun to climb
Skinner, and other pioneers of Machine Age dramatically in those organizations that are

1-4
 Introduction

One-of-a-kind Mass production Flexible production

production

P Improvement by optimizing the parts

e
r
f
0 improvement by optimizing the whole
r
m
a
n
c
e e Product-oriented production focus I Process-oriented customer focus

Agricultural Machine Systems

Age Age Age

FIG. 1-1. PROFILE OF PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

employing these Systems Age management effort to better understand and meet internal and
technologies. Such pioneering organizations external customer needs and to continuously
have demonstrated that significant continued increase customer satisfaction.
performance growth is not only possible but that
it is essential for survival in today's rapidly The TQM philosophy provides a
changing environment. We must recognize and comprehensive way for you to improve
apply the set of principles and practices that performance and quality by examining the
characterize the most successful organizations. processes through which work gets done in a
Under TQM, DoD will encompass and integrate systematic, integrated, consistent, organization-
the variety of principles, practices, techniques, wide manner. It includes understanding the
and tools being employed by the organizations concept of variation and its implications for
that are leading the way in performance and process improvement. TQM addresses all forms
quality improvement, of work and applies equally whether you are
management and administration, conceptual
OVERVIEW worker, or touch labor.

Under TQM, your organization will Top management leads the improvement
deliberately seek to create a positive and process, but each individual must commit to and
dynamic working environment, foster teamwork, participate in the effort. You must look to
apply quantitative methods and analytical improving your own processes and modeling the
techniques, and tap the creativity and ingenuity way for others. You guide the effort by
of all of your people. You will focus collective deliberately shaping the organizational

1-5
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

environment to stimulate creativity, pride, 8. Teamwork that leverages the

teamwork, and knowledge enrichment, and you knowledge and provides essential
aim at achieving a shared vision and fulfilling synergy
the mission of the organization. Management
seeks to craft a totally integrated effort working 9. Conservation of human resources that
toward improving performance at every level preserves your organization's most
and in every activity. You focus on achieving valuable asset
top-level goals through tangible improvements
in measured performance criteria such as, cost, 10. Total involvement that brings the
schedule, human resource development, new entire intellectual power of your
product development, and ultimately customer organization to bear on improvement
satisfaction.
11. Perpetual commitment that precludes
The principles at the heart of the giving up when the road gets a little
continuous improvement process include rough.

1. A constancy of purpose that provides a You apply these principles together in a logical
steady and consistent vision of where and holistic manner to give substance and
your organization is going vitality to the continuously improving
organizational culture. A number of the
2. A commitment to quality that drives suggested readings at the end of this document
productive change in all the products examine these principles and their supporting
and services you produce practices in depth.

3. A customer focus and customer No single correct formula can be used to

involvement that ensures your achieve continuous improvement in all
improvement efforts are driven by situations or all organizations A core set of
meaningful purposes ingredients, however, is evident in most
successful continuous improvement efforts and
4. Process orientation that addresses the can be applied to your own effort. Those
means of work accomplishment and ingredients have been translated into individual
not just the outcomes and organizational behavior and are presented
in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 and Appendix A provide
5. Continuous improvement that ensures some guidance in the form of models for
dynamic and adaptive processes over integrating and sequencing these elements into
time a structured improvement methodology.

6. System-centered management that Your TQM effort will be unique in its

ensures improvement of the whole and details but in general should move your
notjust the parts organization toward satisfying the six criteria
listed below.
7. Investment in knowledge that
leverages the effectiveness of the 1. Exceeding your customers'
improvement process requirements and expectations and
being a high-quality supplier

1.6
 Introduction

2. Believing in people, working to We seek quality in products and services,

eliminate barriers that prevent people processes, and approaches to management. The
from taking joy and pride in their new philosophy recognizes that quality results in
work, and involving everyone productivity and other associated benefits as
illustrated by the Deming Chain Reactionl in
3. Tapping the power of individuals, Figure 1-2.
multiplying that power through
training and teamwork, focusing that As the quality of products, services,
power on understanding and process processes, and management increases, waste and
improvement cost are reduced and productivity improves,
making lower prices possible. Lower prices and
4. Recognizing that most problems are in quality goods and services generate the new
your systems and are not due to business that is essential to staying in business
particular individuals or and providing the jobs needed for a vibrant
circumstances, and providing economy. Quality improvement makes a win-
leadership to continuously improve win situation possible for everyone involved. It
the systems is in our national interest to move toward higher
quality through continuous improvement in all
5. Making decisions based on data rather our defense-related activities.
than on opinions or emotions;
stimulating creative thinking; and Another version of the Deming Chain
seeking innovation in products, Reaction is shown in Figure 1-3; that figure
processes, and services depicts the potential benefits of increased quality
in terms of the DoD acquisition process. Higher
6. Focusing more on defect prevention quality results in lower cost to the Government
than ondefectdetection. for its goods and services, which eventually
results in more effective expenditures of
You may more easily satisfy these criteria by resources and ultimately increased overall
applying the 11 principles listed above, readiness and defense capability.

SUMMARY Total Quality Management affords you an

even greater opportunity to make a difference. It
Quality is the essence of the emerging can be a source of self-satisfaction and ultimately
management philosophy for the Systems Age. make jobs easier and more predictable. TQM

implrove imrn~ove Decrease Opcreawe increase Stay in Provide jobs incre'ase

Qu ahlty pfdrc tiC~vitV costs price market busine=s and morpjobs orltftalb,ty

FIG. 1-2. DEMING CHAIN REACTION

iScholtes, Peter R. The Team Handbook. Joiner Associates, Inc. Madison, Wis. 53705.
Nov 1988.

1-7
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

improveMore o,her and Increase

quafity,dut Lcw~one costr beter stems 'e' s, d defnse
cost ettect"ees for defense stam.htv capao~lty

FIG. 1-3. CHAIN REACTION FOR DoD ACQUISITION PROCESS

efforts lead to workplaces that are more efficient, material at the end of this document will assist
more effective, with more nurturing you in making some of the decisions necessary to
environments - places where people can get started.
increasingly take pride in their work.
Your organization must weave the
This guide is intended to help raise TQM elements of TQM together into a seamless
awareness among the members of the defense improvement process. It will need to create a
community and to encourage you to start your custom-designed plan for improvement that
own personal journey of continuous mixes the TQM elements and techniques in ways
improvement. It applies to anyone on the DoD best suited to its specific situation. However,
team, Government or contractor, who is your plan must include all the fundamental
beginning the journey toward continuous ingredients of the continuous improvement
improvement. You must start your journey in process if the effort is to succeed. Ultimately,
your own sphere of influence. A "General success depends on a joint commitment from
Strategy for Getting Started" and "A General Government and industry. Every member of the
Model for Improvement" are presented in the DoD community needs to be involved. By
following pages as points of departure. The beginning and leading your own TQM effort you
suggested reading presented in the reference will contribute to the success of that effort.
 CHAPTER 2

GENERAL STRATEGY FOR GETTING STARTED

INTRODUCTION

Getting started with improvement would be easy if we didn't have so much work
to do! But we have so much work to do precisely because we have not recognized the
importance of continuously improving every system and process. We must get our
systems under control and eliminate the sources of unnecessary and unproductive
work. When systems and processes function properly, it is surprisinghow little work
there is in anything.

Getting started and sustaining the early improvement initiative is the most
difficult task in TQM. It requires us to make time in our already tight schedules to do
something that we perceive to be an additionaltask. We must modify many of our long-
held notions about what good management is all about in exchange for the promise of
improvement. It is surprisingthat anyone is willing to take these first steps; however,
many have already done so and been richly rewarded. By ultimately gaining real
control over our work processes instead of permitting them to control us, we will make
largegains.

Those who have blazed the trail toward continuous improvement have left us a
legacy of many lessons learned. Many have had false starts, traveled down dead-end
roads, and had to start over. If there is one consistent lesson from those who have led
this effort, it is that there is no universal strategy for success. The road to continuous
improvement is and must be an appropriatelytailored and personal one. A general
behavior and set of actions, however, characterize most successful efforts. That
behavior and those actions are presented here as a suggested general strategy for
startingyour TQMjourney.

While this section speaks directly to you, most behavior and many actions apply
equally to your organization as a whole. The elements of this general strategy are
listed somewhat in order of recommended implementation. The experience of many
organizationsis that focused applicationof specific improvement techniques and tools
is most successful when done in an environment that consciously supports and

2-1
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

promotes continuous improvement. In this chapter, the earlier elements provide a

foundation that is essential to successful process improvement efforts and to creating a
culture of continuous improvement that will have long-term success and ultimately be
self-sustaining. Some elements are necessary only during the initialphases, but most
areperiodic or continuous activities that should become routine, ongoing behavior by
the organizationor individual.

The elements fall into 12 areas of activity: (1) demonstrate leadership;(2) build
awareness; (3) open and maintain lines of communication; (4) create a constancy of
purpose; (5) focus on the customer; (6) choose early efforts in visible areas critical to
success; (7) develop teamwork; (8) provide support, training,and education;(9) build
trust and respect; (10) create an environment in which continuous improvement is a
way of life; (11) continuously improve all processes; and (12) expand culture to
suppliers. Each of those areas encompasses a number of actions.

2-2
 General Strategy for Getting Started

DEMONSTRATE LEADERSHIP

Total Quality Management depends on people more than anything else, and
people lead or are led, they are not managed. Effective TQM depends on effective
leadership, and you must provide that leadership. By taking the initiative,
providing an example, and showing the way, you can lead your subordinates and
inspireyour peers and even your superiors to follow your example. Top leadership is
essential, but TQM leaders are needed at all organizationallevels. Effective TQM
leadershipdoes not necessarilydepend on your place in the organizationbut rather
on your enthusiasm and your visible commitment to the process of continuous
improvement.

"We need to be led by a vision of the future as

opposed to being pushed by the problems of the
present."
Methodist Bishop

1. Take the Initiative improvement philosophy and practice to the

processes in which you directly participate. This
Depending on your organization's application allows you to gain expertise and also
experience and progress with TQM, you will be demonstrates your sincerity; with it, you will be
embarking on an effort that may seem strange to prepared to assist your subordinates in their own
many. By taking the initiative you will establish implementation and to share your own lessons
momentum for your continuous improvement learned.
effort. Your public display of TQM behavior,
belief in the philosophy, and demonstration of Leading by example requires that you put
practices will reinforce your organization's in the time necessary to provide that example.
interest and prove TQM's viability. You will You must make time to participate in
become a TQM leader principally by virtue of improvement activities and support and guide
taking the initiative for its implementation. the activities of your people. You must regularly
visit your teams, not to check up on them but to
In taging the initiative, you should show you are interested in their efforts and
demonstrate the behavior you expect of your results. You must identify and remove barriers
subordinates, and you must develop some to their efforts.
expertise in that behavior before you attempt to
train them in it and require it of them. 2. Demonstrate Commitment
Demonstrating TQM before mandating it will
show your subordinates you are serious about its Leading the way in TQM means you must
implementation and that you believe in its demonstrate your commitment to the TQM
potential. You should apply continuous philosophy, principles, and practices in your

2-3
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

daily activities. Demonstration means living the gets in the way of improvement, while coaching
beliefs you are trying to establish in others and encourages and contributes to continued
exhibiting the behavior you wish them to adopt. learning, both for the student and for the coach.
Your commitment will be evidenced by your
participation in TQM activities: by your Questioning is important to the cultural
willingness to lead your subordinates and enable change within your organization. Through
them to improve their own processes: by your questions you can determine the logic of a
establishment of clear, achievable, agreed-upon process or the logic for improving a process and
improvement goals; by your unending the data that support the logic. Questions are
commitment to the progress of improvement your key to changing the organizational
efforts; and by your continuing desire for environment. Continually reinforce the use of
improvement, logic, data, and participation. Ask about
barriers. Along with asking questions, you must
3. Create More Leaders listen to and assess the answers and act upon
them.
Leadership is not monopolistic;
continuous improvement needs leaders at all Demonstrating your continuing interest
levels in all parts of your organization. You may and approval of your own and your subordinates'
help create more leaders by giving your improvement activities, both individual and
subordinates increased responsibility with team, will keep all of you working hard to
commensurate authority to improve their improve the processes you own. This
processes and by providing the training and demonstration is part of your own personal
resources needed to carry out those improvement process. You must show employees
improvements. Among your peers and with your that you are committed to the improvement
superiors you will create more leaders when you effort, that you recognize their achievements,
build their awareness and when you that you are available to assist in providing
demonstrate your own successful continuous expertise or removing roadblocks, and that you
improvement efforts. TQM directly depends on care about the results. Your own personal
leaders; the more leaders you help create, the demonstration of this commitment will do more
more successful TQM will be throughout your to ensure the success of the improvement effort
organization. than any single tool or technique you can
implement.
4. Guide the Efforts of Others
S. Remove Roadblocks and Barriers
A key principle of continuous
improvement is that people and groups learn As a leader, you must remove roadblocks
through their mistakes when they have a basis and barriers that impede the continuous
for comparing actual and expected behavior. In improvement efforts of'those you lead. Removing
leading the way you must be prepared to forgive these impediments allows them to act,
mistakes made as people learn: people are strengthens their abilities, and increases their
always le-irning. Every improvement effort is a will to improve. By identifying barriers and
culmination of individual and group acting on them and on barriers identified by
contributions, and your continued coaching will others, you will increase their sense of
improve the contribution of every individual you satisfaction and enable successful
help. TQM is about learning, and judgment often improvements.
serves only to inhibit the learning process and

2-4
 GeneralStrategy for Getting Started

Barriers may be physical or psychological. You should encourage your subordinates

By eliminating or significantly reducing status to identify those barriers that prevent them from
symbols, you will give credibility to the concept reaching their goals, and you should do your best
of each individual's importance to the to eliminate those barriers; you should do the
organization. Barriers between groups are same with barriers you yourself perceive. This
similar to barriers between individuals, and you must be an ongoing effort because you will never
should focus on reducing and eliminating them eliminate all barriers and will have to fight to
as well. By structuring your improvement effort keep some of the barriers you have removed from
through team activity, you will do much to returning.
reduce barriers.

2-5
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

BUILD AWARENESS

Buildingawareness - understandingwhat TQM is and why it is important to

you and your organization - is one of the first and perhaps the most important step
in implementing TQM. Every person in the organization must become aware of the
need to improve, of the promise offered by TQM, of the various TQM methodologies,
and of the tools available for improvement efforts. Awareness is the key that opens
the door to TQM's potential.

"Awareness quickens the mental demand."

Henry James

1. Build Your Personal Awareness 3. Attend TQM-Related Symposia,

Workshops, and Conferences
Your own personal awareness is essential
to your implementation of TQM. You have Meetings, seminars, and classes offered by
begun yourjourneyofawarenessbyopeningthis recognized leaders in TQM can also be
guide, but you have just touched the tip of the instrumental in building your awareness. Not
iceberg. Understanding TQM's theoretical basis; only will you benefit from the experience of
learning the process improvement course instructors, but you will find the
methodologies, skills, and techniques; sharing experience of other attendees at conferences and
your awareness with your superiors and peers; workshops extremely valuable as you plan your
and using it to guide your subordinates' own TQM approach. No two TQM efforts are
improvement efforts are all means of extending exactly alike, but all offer common lessons and
that awareness into productive continuous core skill requirements. Sharing your
improvement activity. experience with others also can establish a
continuing dialogue that will be mutually
2. Read the Suggested Literature and View beneficial for years to come.
the Suggested Video Tapes
4. Help Your Manager Become More Aware
A wide body of literature addresses the
theory that supports the TQM effort; the Your TQM effort begins with you.
references at the end of this guide list However, if you are not top management, your
fundamental books, articles, and video tapes that manager will play a major role in your success.
will help you build a broad foundation in TQM's Your manager can send signals or exhibit
philosophy, principles, and practices, and will behavior that will either greatly enhance your
provide you the keys to further sources of TQM progress or unacceptably restrict it. By
information and expertise. This foundation will helping your manager become aware through
enable you to build and guide a TQM effort that summarizing your own TQM knowledge,
best meets the specific needs of your advocating your manager's reading and
organization. attendance, and inviting his/her participation in

2-6
 GeneralStrategy for Getting Started

your TQM activities, you greatly improve your 7. Share the Concept with Union Leadership
chances for a successful TQM effort. Through
encouraging your manager'sawareness, you also Unions are powerful elements in an
increase the potential to move the commitment organization, are attuned to the attitudes and
toTQM upward in your organization. concerns of their membership, and have
significant influence over their members'
5. Discuss TQM with Your Peers reactions to an organization's initiatives. You
should involve union leaders by educating them
Horizontal communication among peers is about your objectives and the objectives of TQM
as important to TQM success as is vertical in general, by setting common goals, and by joint
communication between superior and management/union improvement activities.
subordinate. Discussing TQM with your peers Union involvement, especially its early
and spreading your enthusiasm for its potential involvement, helps reduce fear of or resistance to
and success encourages them to undertake their TQM and increases the chances for full and
own efforts. From these combined efforts you can uncompromised participation by your
realize the benefits of learning common lessons subordinates and peers. When customers and
or addressing problems and issues that affect employees are the most important part of our
you. A group of your peers who are equally efforts, union and management have the same
enthusiastic about TQM can also impel your job.
management to undertake a comprehensive
TQM effort throughout the organization. 8. Inform Customers and Suppliers

6. Help Subordinates Become More Aware A fundamental TQM principle is to build

close relationships with customers and suppliers
Ultimately, your subordinates will be an and maintain frequent contact with them.
essential element in your TQM effort. With their Starting these closer relationships can be as
help and support, you will implement the simple as telling your customers and :uppliers
improvements you seek in your processes. You that you are embarking on a TQM journey and
must provide the opportunity and conditions that that they can expect to have regular contact with
enable that support. You may encourage you in the future. If they are not familiar with
subordinate awareness by making training quality management ideas, you may want to
classes, materials, and/or resources available; by offer them use of your educational materials
having employees participate in improvement (books, video tapes, and even spaces at seminars)
activities; and most importantly, through your and direct them toward other sources of
own demonstration of the improvement-oriented information. Take the time to explain why you
TQM behavior you wish them ultimately to are making changes, what kind of efforts you
exhibit. Most great leaders lead by example. foresee in the near and distant future, and how
Your enthusiasm for TQM will be infectious: if your activities will affect them. Make a special
your subordinates sense your belief and your effort to listen to their ideas on how you can work
commitment, they will be close behind, closely and productively together.

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

OPEN AND MAINTAIN LINES OF COMMUNICATION

As you w-)rk on building awareness throughout your organization, begin to

establish lines of communication both horizontally and vertically. Honest, open
communication is probably the single most importantfactor in successfully creating
a TQM environment. It will take time, but can lead to trust and mutual respect, and
sometimes be the only thing that keeps the effort alive. If people keep talking to each
other, they can work through problems, overcome barriers,and find encouragement
and supportfrom others involved in quality efforts.

"'Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly

as when they discuss it freely."
Lord Macaulay

1. Open the Communication Processes you should ensure that individual and group
access to other individuals and groups is as
Regardless of how good your leadership unrestricted as possible.
may be, a TQM effort is much harder without
complete, clear communication. As a leader you 2 Keep Everyone Informed
must make that communication possible by
listening to those with whom you interact, Individuals are most dissatisfied when
creating new channels of communication, and kept in the dark about the organization's goals,
keeping those channels open. their superiors' objectives, or even what is
expected of them personally. A fundamental
Communication requires both a sender TQM practice is defining an organizational
(talker) and a receiver (listener). As a leader, vision that is shared by every individual in your
you should do a lot of listening; communication organization. For your improvement effort to
often involves knowing what questions to ask, succeed you must enlist the support of all of your
asking them, listening to the answers you get, people. This will require you to share
and acting on those answers. Communication management information, goals, and objectives.
must be free and open throughout your Don't work with hidden agenda. Make your
organization, both vertically and horizontally, policy one of "no surprises" - your people will
Constrained communications quickly eliminate feel more secure, and they will contribute to the
any atmosphere of trust in an organization, and organization freely and openly.

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 GeneralStrategy for Getting Started

CREATE A CONSTANCY OF PURPOSE

Constancy of purpose establishes a common direction for all organizational

elements and ensures that efforts at all levels contribute to achieving broad objectives
relevant to the entire organization. Communicating the organization'sgoals and
objectives throughout the organization is essential to focusing improvement efforts
for the common benefit. Your behaviorand attitudes must reinforce this constancy of
purpose, and you must be conscious of the unspoken signals you send your
subordinates.

"Be like a headland of rock on which the waves

break incessantly; it stands fast and around it the
seething of the waters sink to rest."
Marcus Aurelius

1. Examine Your Organization's Mission others to strive to attain that vision. By

appealing to others' values, interests, hopes,
Your organization's mission is its dreams, and other motivations, you will ejdist
conscious statement of its overriding goals and them in the common drive for improvement.
objectives. If no explicit statement is made, your Your vision for continuous improvement must
organization and those of you that lead the have at its heart the betterment of each
organization may not be entirely clear about the individual with a stake in your organization, and
mission. By assessing your vision of the you must clearly communicate that vision.
organization's future and coming to a consensus
on a mission statement, you will solidify your Strategic planning is the means by which
understanding of your ultimate goals, and you translate your organization's mission and
communicate that mission throughout the vision into operational goals and objectives.
organization. The mission statement should That planning will help you chart a course
relate your organization's understanding of its toward the future, having as one of its primary
purpose to your customers' needs, requirements, elements an overriding mandate to improve all
and expectations. It should convey a long-term organizational processes.
stability and sense of purpose.
3. Establish Meaningful Goals
2. Take a Long-Term View
The strategic planning process yields both
When you lead your TQM effort, you must long-term goals and specific goals that are the
be leading it somewhere. You have to establish a near-term opportunities for your improvement
vision based on your organization's values and efforts. Perhaps the most important
describe behavior that is consistent with your characteristic of your goals is that they be
vision. You must communicate that vision of challenging as well as reasonable and
your organization's ultimate destiny and inspire achievable. You must develop realistic

2-9
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

strategies to realize them. In developing goals goal, they will have a choice of three methods:
and their supporting strategies, you should focus
on key accomplishments and then on the method 1. Improve the system
of achieving those goals instead of the required
results. Remember that the primary goal is 2. Distort the system; get the demanded
continuous improvement leading to increased results at the expense of other results
quality and customer satisfaction. Finally, once
goals and strategies have been established, you 3. Distort the figures.
need to use the continuous improvement process
to achieve those goals and then establish and In TQM we expect people to improve the
attain new goals continuously. system. However, if people are judged -
rewarded or punished - based on achievement of
4. Effectively Deploy Policy Throughout the results, they will often distort the system or
Organization distort the figures, both of which are major
barriers to TQM. To help people improve the
The best goals and objectives throughout system, focus your reviews on how they are going
your organization will be meaningless if they are about improving the systems rather than on
not coordinated and aligned with your whether goals are reached. When you are
organization's mission. Policy deployment concerned about what people will do with
provides the means by which broad numericalgoals, do not use them.
organizational goals are iteratively translated
into more specific goals and objectives and 6. Ensure That Behavior and Signals Are
eventually result in actual improvement efforts. Consistent with Goals
Such deployment is best accomplished by
viewing the organization as a linkage of Nothing will make a TQM effort more
processes, in which no individual or group difficult than behavior that signals to the
operates in a vacuum. Goals are developed organization's members that you do not
within the framework of that linkage. To enable completely and entirely embrace the philosophy
policy deployment, you should develop and and behavior you advocate. You must ensure
publish unifying posture statements to all the that all new policies and initiatives reflect the
organization's members, and those statements organization's mission and vision and are
should provide a context in which the members consistent with TQM principles and practices,
may view their individual and group goals and and that old policies and initiatives are
objectives. reconciled as well. Everything you do -r say will
be evaluated by your subordinates, peers, and
5. Treat Goals and Performance Carefully superiors as to how it relates to your stated TQM
objectives. Even informal or unspoken signals
Since numeric goals are subject to much can contradict your words - you must establish
misuse, you must be very careful about how you your credibility through complete dedication and
use them. As people attempt to reach a numeric commitment to the TQM effort and ensure your
behavior and signals reinforce that dedication
and commitment.

2-1 o
 GeneralStrategy for Getting Started

7. Align Overall Improvement Activity with take a big step in that alignment. Higher level
Organizational Goals teams pass their own general goals down to lower
level teams, with each team making more
Your improvement activities, those of specific goals at its level. You can align goals
your subordinates, and those of every team in horizontally through the interaction of cross-
your organization are the means by which your functional teams. Each team takes its goals and
organizational goals are realized. Aligning those translates them into specific improvement
improvement activities with the overall goals is objectives. Because of the tiered relationship of
therefore crucial to a successful improvement each team's goals, all improvement activities are
effort. When you ensure that process- aligned with overall organizational goals.
improvement teams are linked vertically, you

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER

Every process in your organizationhas a customer, and without a customer a

process has no purpose. The customer is the recipient of the process's products or
services and defines the quality of those products and services. It is only through
focusing on your customers that you can truly optimize your processes because it is
only throughyour customers thatyou may effectively define your goals and objectives
for improvement. You must focus on both your organization'sexternal customers
and your internal customers, who are other members of your organization that
depend on your products or services for their own processes.

"Quality has no meaning without reference to the

customer."
Dr. W. Edwards Deming

1. Link Organizational Purpose to Customer as to the suitability of your improvements or

Satisfaction measuring key customer criteria should be part
of the continuous dialogue you establish with
The customer defines the purpose of the your customers. Because the organization and
organization and every process within it. its processes exist to serve the customer, your
Success means striving to become the best improvements are of no benefit unless they are
supplier of your particular products and services directly passed to the customer in terms of higher
in the minds of those customers. To achieve that quality products and services.
success, your organization must align its
overriding strategic vision with a vision of 2. Identify External and Internal Customers
customer service and satisfaction. Ultimately,
you will ensure all organizational purposes aim Identifying your customers is the first step
at meeting your customers' needs and you will in developing a customer focus. External
monitor your organization's performance to customers can be easier to identify; they are
ensure this performance is maintained and outside your organization, and usually have
improved. This approach to customer service formal relationships with your organization.
applies to each organizational process with Your internal customers are another matter.
respect to its internal customers as well. You must carefully assess your own processes
and determine who in the organization receives
You should be measuring your their output and benefits from them. Who
improvement effort constantly within the should benefit from them? These are your
context of your own processes; however, you must internal customers. Once you identify your
ensure that your perceived improvements are customers, you should ensure they understand
equally perceptible to your customers. Inquiring they are your customers.

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 GeneralStrategy for Getting Started

3. Understand Customer Needs, 5. Listen to the Customer

Expectations, and Requirements
More important than merely talking to
Satisfying your customers means that the your customers is listening to your customers.
products and services your processes generate You can only discover what your customers' true
meet your customers' needs. To ensure your needs are by listening to and watching them. If
processes meet those needs, you must first possible, have them take you to their work areas
understand what the needs are. Your customers and show you how they use your products and
will have specific requirements that are peculiar services. You will bring your own biases and
to their own operations and concerns. They will preferences to any discussions or meetings, and
expect a certain level of performance from you those preferences will affect the course of any
and from your products. They may also have dialogue you undertake with your customers. To
implicit needs that they do not articulate but ensure you adequately understand your
that are equally important. As a supplier, you customers' own biases and preferences, you
have a responsibility to ensure that these should listen before adding your own preferences
customer needs, requirements, and expectations to your discussion. By listening to your
are communicated and that they are mutually customers, you will also gain improved
understood and agreed upon. understanding of your own performance.

4. Establish Routine and Meaningful 6. Involve the Customer in Planning and

Dialogue with Customers Decision Making

Continuous, ongoing discussion of your Planning and decision making can be

customers' needs and how well you are meeting much more effective when your customers are
those needs is crucial to effective customer involved. That does not mean that they control
service. Customer needs are always changing as or materially manipulate the planning process
are your environment and the customer's but rather that they communicate their needs in
environment. You must continually update your terms of your planning and strategic focus.
understanding of customer requirements in the Because they are the foundation of your goals
context of a dynamic environment if you wish and objectives, your customers can provide
your products and services to be most useful to feedback and information that is beneficial to the
your customers. You must also communicate overall planning process.
your own needs for information and feedback to
your customers. Help them understand your
processes and how their requests and timing
affect your ability to be a good supplier.

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

CHOOSE EARLY EFFORTS IN VISIBLE AREAS CRITICAL TO SUCCESS

The success or failure of your initial TQM efforts and projects can greatly affect
how easily you can get your organizationto adopt TQM ideas. It pays to choose these
early efforts carefully, looking for opportunities that (1) have a good chance of
success; (2) are visible throughout the company, and preferably, to important
external customers; and (3) can significantly improve the lives of workers and
managers alike. The trick is to find something that is neither so large that you are
doomed to failure nor so small that no one will notice if improvements are made. A
few guidelinesare outlined below.

"Success comes from having the proper aim as well

as the right ammunition."
Proverb

1. Address Critical Issues That Are Also achieve tangible change when TQM is applied to
Important to Customers critical areas.

Addressing critical problem areas first or 2. Start with the Processes You Own and
applying TQM in areas with high probability of Work to Improve the System
success increases the chance that TQM results
will sell themselves. You can build on the Continuous improvement involves each
success of your initial efforts to mobilize the individual and group within the organization
majority of your people. For many of them the improving its own processes. Beginning your
tangible success of the philosophy will be much TQM effort within your own span of control gives
more meaningful than a verbal promise. you the best chance for immediate, demonstrable
Choosing problem areas or areas that are success without threatening anyone else's
important to your customers will maximize your domain, and allows you to demonstrate the ideals
initial payback and will increase the and behavior you seek to inspire in others. You
attractiveness of TQM to your management. should begin your own process improvement
Appropriate recognition and reward of early effort by determining exactly which processes
successes will motivate others to join in the you own and following a systematic, methodical
effort. The final incentive for a good early choice approach to improve those processes and
is that you will gain quick momentum and communicate the results.

2-14
 General Strategy for Getting Started

3. Start the Process at the Highest Level commitment to it. You also have the
Possible responsibility of protecting the effort from
negative signals to the greatest extent possible.
The higher in the organization you can Being the top of the effort will give you a great
begin implementing continuous improvement deal of latitude in determining the overall
the greater your chances of success. Top direction of your improvement effort. However,
management comprises your organization's most you should ensure that effort is consistent with
visible leadership. Also, they know your whatever overall organizational goals have been
external customers and they understand your independently communicated.
organization's significant strategic processes. If
you are not the top leader in your organization, 4. Cascade the Process Through the
you should promote the promise of TQM to the Organization
highest audience you can reach. You should at
least make a concerted effort to convince your Once you have started your improvement
superior that implementing TQM is not only a process at this highest possible level, you should
worthwhile effort but the key to your future cascade it through the organization, layer by
success. Through your superior you may be able layr., ' :nsure complete and thorough adoption
to convince higher levels of management. , f the improvement philosophy. You do not need
to complete implementation at one level to
Ideally, your improvement effort should proceed to another, but you should ensure that
start at the very top of your organization. This key people are trained, goals have been
may not always be possible, however, determined, and improvement efforts have
Ultimately, the improvement process may begin begun at one level before initiating the effort at
at any point in the organization, and that point is the next level down. Skipping levels is a crucial
the top of the implementation effort by default. mistake because not only do you miss the
You should consider that you are the top of the opportunitiesfor improvement at those levels, you
effort. As the top person in the effort, you risk alienatingor threateningmanagers at those
assume the responsibilities of establishing a levels and turning them against your
constancy of purpose and visibly leading the improvement effort.
improvement effort and demonstrating your

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

DEVELOP TEAMWORK

Teamwork is the engine that drives many improvement efforts. Creating teams
allows you to apply diverse skills and experience to your processes and problem
solving. They provide an underlying basis of experience and history for your
improvement effort and are a vehicle through which you allow all individuals to
participatein that effort. Not only must individuals cooperate within teams, the
teams must cooperate together throughout the organization. An atmosphere of
teamwork should permeate your organization,affecting not only formal team efforts
but also each individual's interactionin the organization.

Often encouraging teamwork involves teaching people who already work

together to consciously act as a team. These naturalwork groups exist as permanent
teams whose objective is the continuous improvement of the processes they own.

"Solving a problem may be easier than you think.

You need a systematic approach."
Dr. W. Edwards Deming

1. Facilitate Team Development and Activity processes; otherwise, the concept of continuous
improvement does not work. You can help teams
Teams will not just develop of their own work continuously by encouraging them to work
accord. Often you will have to break down steadily on individual improvement efforts for
barriers between and inside organizations to fixed periods of time, and ensuring that when
enable team formation, and you will have to one effort is completed another begins. Each
work to ensure those barriers do not reappear to improvement effort may take on the appearance
interfere with team performance. Management of a project when the systematic approach to
approaches built on goal development improvement is used. Your goal, however, is to
independent of an overriding organizational make this technique the way process
vision and strategy create barriers because they maintenance and improvement is performed
permit conflicting and counterproductive goals. throughout your organization.
You must ensure that your teams develop goals
and pursue improvements that reinforce one 2. Guide Teams in Employing a Systematic
another as well as your organization's constancy Approach to Improvement
of purpose. Teamwork in TQM is not merely
"employee involvement," it is the management of Using a defined, documented, systematic
participation. approach to improvement is a means of ensuring
teams work consistently and methodically to
Every process-improvement team should effect improvement. You may apply any of many
be working continuously to improve its techniques here; some of these are described

2--16
 General Strategy for Getting Started

later in the text and in the references listed at 5. Work Toward Everyone Becoming Part of
the end of the main text of this guide. Such an Improvement Team
approaches help a team develop improvement
logically, document it, and present it to others so Individual improvement contributions are
they may quickly understand it. These important, but it is through team effort in the
approaches also help ensure that teams maintain formal process- improvement cycle that
momentum in the improvement effort and do not individual contributions become "synergized"
run out of steam in an unguided process. and larger improvements take place. You should
strive eventually to make each individual in
3. Create Cross-Functional Teams for Cross- your organization part of at least one
Functional Purposes improvement team - their natural work groups.
Each employee will have something to
Many of your organization's problems will contribute. Team participation creates an
not be confined to one functional group. You and atmosphere of camaraderie. Individuals in a
your peers can cooperate in solving these team learn to count on and trust other team
problems by establishing cross-functional teams members and thus become more effective in their
consisting of members from all affected groups. own jobs. Optimal team size depends on the
The cross-functional process should be identified extent of the process involved. If you are
and defined just as any other process, and it concerned that your teams are too large, create
needs an owner as well. Cross-functional teams more teams so that everyone may participate.
use the same operating principles and should Many good ideas come from your workers
employ the same systematic approaches to their because they are the closest to the processes
improvement efforts as other teams. You must where work actually gets done. You must create
work to ensure the cross-functional teams rise opportunities for them to participate.
above parochial issues and concentrate on the
common processes the teams were created to 6. Support and Reinforce Team Behavior
address. and Performance

4. Create Special Teams for Special lssues You will need to demonstrate your
expectations of team behavior if you are to get
Emergent problems within your maximum performance from your teams. You
organization will demand immediate attention. can do that by verbally reinforcing the need to
Although they are short term and take on a use team operating techniques and by
problem-solving instead of a continuous- supporting actions that emphasize team
improvement nature, special efforts are every bit behavior. Every member of a team should be
as important as ongoing processes and long-term active and participate in the effort. Your
problems. One way of dealing with emergent encouragement, evaluation, and feedback of a
issues is to create special teams that come into team's activities should stress its team-related
being to deal with selected issues and then are behavior and performance. Remember that
disbanded upon their resolution. Special teams teams depend on management participation and
should use the same systematic approach in commitment for success.
dealing with their problems.

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

7. Recognize Effort and Approach, Not Just 8. Ensure That Process-Improvement Teams
Results Are Linked Vertically and Horizontally

Some improvement efforts will not yield Linking teams vertically ensures that
the expected results. In some instances the lower level teams will work consistently with the
principal outcome will be a deeper knowledge of expectations of higher level teams, and, as a
the process instead of immediate measurable whole, the organization will proceed
performance improvement. Recognize your consistently. Linking teams horizontally
teams for their adherence to the desired ensures that common problems are addressed by
approach and to team behavior in addition to joint groups and that lessons learned in one area
recognizing them for results they achieve. In may be applied to other areas without duplicated
general, if the teams adhere to the philosophy effort. You can link teams vertically by ensuring
and approach of continuous improvement, they that the leader of one team is a member of a team
will ultimately improve their processes. That is at the next highest level. Horizontal linking is
the only way you will ensure that continuous accomplished through your participation or
improvement becomes a part of the way you and participation by your subordinates on cross-
your organization do business every day. functional and special improvement teams.

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 GeneralStrategy for Getting Started

PROVIDE SUPPORT, TRAINING, AND EDUCATION

If you expect to implement TQM yourself and expect your subordinatesto follow
suit, you must ensure adequate time and trainingresources are available to support
your effort. TQM does not depend on additionalpeople or money; rather,it relies on
the availabilityof time for individualsand groups to pursue improvement efforts and
on the availabilityof trainingand education to develop needed skills and experience
in improvement techniques and tools. You must make those time and training
resources available for yourself and your people; doing so is one way for you to
demonstrateyour commitment to the improvement effort.

While awareness is the way you get your TQM effort moving, education and
traininghelp accelerateit dramatically.Provided in the rightplace at the right time,
they allow you to develop needed skills both in yourself and in your subordinates.
They help develop experience in the techniques necessary to implement TQM. That
experience is the first step to making TQM a part of your day-to-day work life. And,
of course, technical training and education are essential to improving each
employee's specific job skills. Educationand trainingare comprehensive, intensive,
and unending. Quality improvement efforts begin and continue with education and
training.

"This is not an effort that requires a massive

infusion of capital. This is an effort that requires a
massive amount of thinking."
Richard Goodrum

1. Make Improvement a High-Priority regularly, necessary documentation is prepared

Activity and maintained, and emergent events do not
routinely disrupt improvement activities. How
When you believe continuous you respond to the performance of your
improvement is important to your organization's subordinates will directly reflect your belief in
future, you will demonstrate that belief by the importance of continuous improvement; you
giving improvement activities the priority they must ensure they are recognized for their
need to be effective. That demonstration improvement efforts. That recognition is key to
includes providing training and ensuring success; recognizing those who sincerely do TQM
improvement teams have the time to meet can motivate others to join the effort.

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

2. Create Time for Your People To Address 4. Educate Everyone Consistently

Improvement
Your improvement effort requires that
If you expect your people to pursue the you provide every person in your organization a
continuous improvement process, you must consistent, common level of knowledge about
provide them time for those efforts. They must TQM principles, practices, skills, and
be able to attend group meetings and perform techniques. You must structure your education
independent activities such as data collection and training program to provide the basic
and analysis. Do not require them to provide knowledge necessary for your effort and provide
time for improvement at their own expense. that knowledge consistently across the board.
Improvement activities are important enough Developing such a program means that you
that you should set aside time for them on a yourself must first become educated in TQM.
regular basis. Suggestion systems should be part
of the daily work practices, not something S. Make Full Use of Available Resources
employees do in their spare time. Allowing your
people to devote time to improvement will make Training is a valuable resource but it can
their use of time overall more effective and be a costly one. Developing tailor-made training
efficient. You must also provide time for your approaches is very effective but can be time-
people to be trained, both on the job and in the consuming and expensive. To reduce the costs of
classroom, because continuous improvement of your education and training, you should use
their knowledge and capabilities is an essential readily available training materials where
element of TQM. Once people begin to see appropriate. They include books, video tapes,
positive change, many will contribute additional classroom instruction, consultant services, and
effort voluntarily. As non-value-added tasks are in-house TQM expertise. Chances are that many
eliminated through process improvement, more of your training needs can be satisfied by these
time will be made available for your off-the-shelf materials, once you have evaluated
improvement effort. what is available and its usefulness, you should
supplement your training needs with specially
3. Organize To Support Improvement designed materials and programs as needed.

Organizing your people to support 6. Provide Training and Education Resources

improvement efforts will help you more easily
provide necessary resources. If your Without training and education you and
organization's natural work groups mirror your your subordinates cannot grow in knowledge of
improvement efforts, group meetings will be the improvement process, you cannot improve
easier to arrange and will fit more naturally in your capability, and you cannot increase your
the context ofjob responsibilities. You may need ability to improve. As a leader you are
to set up some supporting team structures to responsible for promoting both the professional
work on broad issues or problems. By having and personal development of your people. This
groups follow a consistent process-improvement includes making training available to all your
methodology, you will eventually establish an subordinates, both individually and in groups,
approach to work that includes the time and seeing to it that they receive that training
necessary for improvement activities and when they will have immediate opportunities to
individual and group training. use it. You should encourage independent
training and education. You must also ensure

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 GeneralStrategy for Getting Started

that you and others in your organization provide trainee a chance to use the new knowledge, the
timely on-the-job training directly aimed at training ultimately goes to waste. Mass training
improving an individual's specific skills. approaches can be particularly wasteful in this
regard. You should train yourself and others
The job itself can be an extremely valuable when an immediate opportunity is available to
training setting. On-the-job training provides apply that training to improvement activities.
the trainees an immediate opportunity to use Training is continuous; it must be performed
their new skills in an environment that is throughout the life of a continuous-improvement
directly relevant for them. You must have effort.
profound TQM knowledge before training your
subordinates on the job, but through on-the-job 7. Train the Managers and Supervisors
training you can instruct your subordinates in
the most necessary skills without waiting for Managers and supervisors are the most
available training courses. You should train on important sources of training for their
the job every day, in either formal planned subordinates. Just as you are the focal point of
situations or informal spontaneous ones. On- your own improvement effort, managers and
the-job training should address specific job skills supervisors are the focal points for their own
as well as improvement techniques. On-the-job organizations. If they are to ensure their
training is the responsibility of every supervisor, subordinates are well trained, they must be well
manager, and leader. trained themselves; without adequate,
appropriate training they will also be unfamiliar
If you train or educate yourself or someone with the principles, skills, and techniques
else in any subject, but do not give yourself or the essential to the improvement effort.

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

BUILD TRUST AND RESPECT

Employees who trust their managersand who are trusted and respected in turn
can provide the edge that organizationsneed to provide superiorservices or products.
Workers have the best, most up-to-date knowledge about how well processes are
working, what problems have arisen, and how things could be better. If their
opinions are respected, they will share their knowledge and creativity with
management - the only way to ensure continuous improvement.

Trust and respect are essential for individual participation. Without such an
atmosphere,people will not take actions or make recommendations they perceive to
be risky to themselves. TQM is a process that depends on every person being
unafraidto take chances and unworried about risking his/herself-esteem. You must
be open and honest with your people and establish channels of communication that
are reliable and accessible to everyone in the organization. If people broach ideas,
they should be praised;if they identify problems in the process or system, they should
be thanked; when they contribute, they should be recognized; when they fail, they
should be supported; and when they succeed, they should be rewarded. As their
leader,you are responsible for creatingan atmosphere of trust and support,and you
are responsible for maintaining each individual's sense of self-worth and self-
esteem.

"People are not an asset, not a resource. They are a

treasure to be protected."
Dr. W. Edwards Deming

1. Recognize That People Are Your Most of your organization, people also fuel your
Important Treasure continuous-improvement effort. Every action
you take must recognize their importance, and
People are the most important treasure must avoid treating people as subordinate to the
your organization has: they are more than a system. Work to remove the factors that
mere resource. Do not treat them as expendable. demotivate people.
They are your experience, your knowledge base,
your corporate memory, and the spirit of your 2. Value and Encourage Individual
organization. In times of hardship try every Contributions
other alternative before you make personnel
cuts; people are the only element you cannot Recognition is an essential human need.
easily replace. In addition to being the lifeblood Every person's sense of self-worth must

2-22
 General Strategy for Getting Started

periodically be confirmed, and as a leader, you 3. Recognize That Everyone Has a

are responsible for that confirmation. Responsibility for Quality
Recognizing specific individual contributions to
the organization or to the improvement effort is People will contribute most when they are
the most obvious way of acknowledging an responsible for something. When you recognize
individual's value. You may reassure people in that quality is the responsibility of every
other ways as well. Taking an active interest in individual every day, it becomes easy to accept
their day-to-day activities shows you care not the importance of providing the resources
only about their performance but about them as necessary for continuous improvement. Without
individuals. When you take the time to ensure the time and training necessary to support them,
each person gets essential, supplementary, and improvement efforts will wither and die. All
continuing training and education, you are individuals must have the resources they need to
recognizing their value. Finally, prompt action fulfill their responsibility for the quality of their
on their suggestions shows people that you value processes. By providing the necessary resources,
their ideas and their contributions to you enable the organization to realize the vision
organizational improvement, of total quality responsibility.

Individual efforts can substantially 4. Listen for Even the Smallest Voice
contribute to the continuous improvement effort
even if undertaken outside the context of team Every individual has the potential to
activities. Because individuals work in the contribute to your improvement effort. People
process every day, you must depend on them to are often shy and reluctant to contribute in a
identify problems with their processes or group setting, but that reluctance can be
opportunities for improving those processes. You maintained individually as well. You have the
should ensure management support for responsibility to encourage each individual to
individual improvements, recognizing contribute. Systematic brainstorming
individuals who make substantive contributions, techniques can help encourage individual
By making it easy to quickly implement contributions By recognizing each contribution,
individual improvement requests and personally no matter how small, by praising ideas publicly,
interesting yourself in the results, you will and by consulting every individual as
greatly increase your subordinates' willingness appropriate, you will develop a climate in which
to suggest improvements both individually and people are increasingly willing to participate
as part of their teams. actively in the improvement effort. Even if the
ideas you elicit are relatively small, you should
keep up your enthusiasm and your support; you
never know when a terrific idea will spring from
the mind of the most unlikely individual.

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

IS A WAY OF LIFE

By making continuous improvement a part of your daily routine, you will

integrateit into all aspects of your work. Continuous improvement only approaches
maturity when it is applied routinely to all of your organization's work. Routine
applicationentails using the process-improvement cycle in all areas, collecting data
and using those data to assess process suitability, removing roadblocks to your
improvement efforts and those of others, and continuously improving your
knowledge and expertise in process improvement. Ideally, continuous improvement
should be your normal approach to doing your work; it must become your way of life.

"Don't bother just to be better than your

contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better
than yourself."
William Faulkner

1. Expect Improvement 2. View Problems as Opportunities

If continuous improvement is your way of Problems are your only chance to improve
life, you should expect improvement routinely your processes; without problems there is no
from yourself, your subordinates, your peers, and incentive for improvement. Many individuals
your superiors. Expecting improvement does not tend to see problems negatively or as indications
mean you punish when improvement does not of failure. You should instead look at emergent
occur, but rather that you are unwilling to accept or long-term problems as the site of your next
the status quo. In a continuous improvement improvement effort. Your problems are a gold
environment you deliberately seek positive mine of potential personnel, dollar, or time
change as the means of engendering improved savings. They signal opportunity for better
performance. You continually ask questions. products or services created with less effort.
You measure to assess degrees of change and Acknowledging problems and rewarding those
suitability. You must constantly demonstrate who bring problems to light is an essential part
through your own actions and words that you are of the continuous improvement effort.
never satisfied with anything less than
continuous improvement. You must not express 3. Constantly Examine the Value of Policies,
this negatively, but use the drive for Practices, and Procedures
improvement to provide constant incentive to
your subordinates and constant recognition for Throughout your organization you will
improvements attained. find policies, practices, and procedures that

2-24
 General Strategy for Getting Started

contradict TQM goals and desired behavior. You importance. Frequent celebration will
must identify those contradictions, examine demonstrate your interest in all your
their value, and modify them if your TQM effort organization's improvement efforts, and will
is to be successful. This is a continuous effort help engender feelings of good will associated
because new policies and practices are always with the improvement process as a whole. Make
coming into being and not all will be consistent the workplace enjoyable.
with TQM. Eliminate those elements that add
no value or demoralize and demotivate 6. Assess lmprovements Based on Data, Not
individuals in the organization. Eliminate Intuition
waste, both material and financial waste and
wasted time. Total Quality Management is about
measurement; measurement to assess the need
4. Drive Out the Sources of Fear for process improvement, measurement to
localize symptoms, measurement to verify
Fear causes resistance to change, and fear causes, and measurement to evaluate changes.
of your improvement effort will force you to You cannot reliably determine the course or the
spend great amounts of effort that might have success of your improvement effort without
been used more productic:y in actual collecting and using data effectively. Intuition is
improvement activities. O'ie iin source of fear valuable in interpreting data and determining
is the "shoot the messenger" tendency in many future courses of action, but the data themselves
organizations. Don't blame individuals who validate your improvement methodology and
report problems; those problems are practices. Don'tjust think something is better -
opportunities for improvement that you would verify it with data. An experiment is better than
not otherwise have discovered. Likewise do not an argument.
penalize the individual reporting the problem by
making its solution his responsibility unless he 7. Encourage Innovative Thinking and New
owns the process that has the problem. Another Ideas
common individual and group fear is that of
survival in a new environment. You must take In the spirit of continuous improvement
pains to reassure individuals and groups that and positive change, you must ensure your
they will not eliminate their positions through organization is receptive to new ways of doing
their own improvement efforts; although their things. Your workers are the richest source of
jobs may change, they will continue to have jobs improvement ideas in your organization. By
within your organization, implementing or revitalizing suggestion systems
and acting promptly on suggestions, you will
5. Recognize Success and Share the Credit reinforce the importance of everyone's
participation. Small, incremental improvement
Recognizing success is another way to ideas are usually easy to implement; you should
reduce fear and to encourage individual and approve and encourage them wherever possible
group improvement activity. Recognition is a and act to ensure their quick implementation
fundamental human need, and celebration of and testing. Use intrinsic rewards such as praise
success is a fun way to provide that recognition and pride of workmanship in preference to
in a nonthreatening, noncompetitive environ- extrinsic rewards such as money. Often your
ment. Be sure that in your celebrations you give prompt action on employee suggestions will be
credit to all groups and individuals who much more meaningful than trivial tangible
contribute to success and minimize your own rewards. Group awards will also foster
teamwork.

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

8. Align the Reward and Recognition 10. Employ Meaningful Measurement

Systems with the TQM Philosophy Systems

Reward and recognition systems must be You should measure data that are
consistent with the behavior and attitudes you meaningful and provide you information with
wish to develop in your people. Continuous which you may improve processes. To do so, you
improvement should provide continuing team have to measure what is important and not
opportunities along with individual opportunity merely what is easy or readily available. You
for improvement and achievement. Constantly must measure and evaluate all improvement
recognize and reward your people as appropriate, opportunities. To the extent possible,
Reinforce group behavior instead of rewarding measurement should be used in treating causes
individual behavior that will make one person instead of symptoms. If you go to the trouble of
look good at the expense of others. Individual creating meaningful measurement systems, use
leaders should have more authority to recognize them. Measurement is fundamental to
and reward their people and groups as knowledgeable process improvement; you cannot
appropriate without having to rely on a reasonably expect to know how well your process
bureaucratic centralized system. is functioning or how effective your
improvements are if you cannot reliably measure
9. Cease Reliance on Mass Inspection your process. Make decisions based on data.

Mass inspection is an extremely expensive 11. Cost-Justify Intelligently

and unreliable method of ensuring quality.
Merely inspecting products and discarding or Proposed improvements may not always
reworking unacceptable items does nothing to fix be justified purely on the basis of their projected
the underlying process problems that cause financial savings, but they may bring intangible
product deficiencies. You will have more reliable benefits that could far outweigh their immediate
quality when you emphasize process control and monetary costs. You should exercise good
improvement over inspection. This means judgment on what makes sense. Often, large
shifting your focus gradually over the course of downstream benefits may accrue from an
your improvement effort until inspection upstream improvement. You should examine a
becomes only a means of developing indicators of potential improvement for the tangible and the
process adequacy. Mass inspection is a product- intangible benefits it will provide in terms of a
oriented approach to quality; process-oriented better workplace, more-satisfied people, or
approaches are much more effective and are the higher quality. Often true cost and savings
fundamental underpinning of TQM. figures may be unknown and unknowable;
improvements should be implemented with the
continuous improvement philosophy always in
mind.

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 GeneralStrategy for Getting Started

CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE ALL PROCESSES

Continuousprocess improvement, as the basis of TQM, is a never-ending effort.

Perfection is an ultimate, unattainablegoal, but its ideal is the basis for continuous
improvement efforts. You must view everything your organization does in terms of
interrelatedprocesses. Process improvement should become your organization'sway
of life. Goals and objectives are realized through process improvement. Your own
focus should be to improve all the processes you own and remove all those barriers
under your control that hinderothers from improving their own processes. The only
true measure of your performance over time is the degree of process improvement you
effect.

Process standardizationis a means of defining a process and ensuring that

everyone understands and employs it in a consistent manner. It is difficult to
improve upon something that is not well defined. Process standards communicate
the current best-known way of performing a process and ensure consistent process
performance by a variety of individuals. With a standard,people have a way to know
that they are doing their jobs correctly and you have a means of assessing their
performance objectively. Process standards provide the baseline from which to
continuously improve the process. The people doing the work should maintain and
update standardsas they improve theirprocesses so that the standardsalways reflect
the current best-known means of doing the work.

"Statistics is the language that allows the work to

talk to us - it tells us when to make a change or
when to leave it alone."
Louis E. Schultz

1. Understand That Everything Involves a may be materials, money, information, opinions,

Process needs, or anything else a process uses in its
transformation. Outputs are products, services,
Total Quality Management focuses on and information. Processes are bounded
process improvement, so everything your activities that may be described. They are often
organization does should be described in terms of repetitive. You should evaluate your function in
a process. Simply defined, a process is a your organization by identifying the processes
transformation of inputs into outputs. Inputs you own.

2-27
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

2. Develop Process Ownership measure them. Make sure you include both
tangible and intangible elements. Finally, you
Only a process's owner truly has the power must set down your process in writing, the most
to improve that process. For that reason you common techniques being flow charts or flow
must clearly identify the processes you own and diagrams. Until you can set your process down
those in which you participate but are owned by on paper, you do not really understand what that
others. A process owner has both the process is or how to measure it.
responsibility for a process's correct functioning
and the authority to change that process. The 5. Study Process Variation
process owner has a stake in how well the process
functions, It may be an individual or a team. If A concept that is key to understanding the
you as an individual own a process, it will most principles of TQM is variation and its effects on
likely be beneficial to establish a related process- how we judge process performance and process
improvement team or use an existing work group capability. Variation is present in every process
as a team. As the process owner, you should have all the time; what we put into our processes - be
as much latitude to change the process as it information or raw materials - varies from
necessary for it to function optimally. That day to day, as does what we get out of them.
authority will enable you to establish a Luckily, simple tools are available for
systematic improvement approach. understanding, measuring, and reducing
variation. The goal is to reduce sources of
3. Ensure That Every Team Owns Its Process variation as much as possible so processes
become more stable and more predictable. Until
Just as you must have the authority and you reduce variation in a process, you will be
ownership over the processes for which you are unable to assess the impact of other
responsible, you must give teams under your improvements you make.
leadership the ownership over their processes.
They must have a stake in how well the processes 6. Bring Processes Under Control
work, the responsibility for correct process
functioning, and the authority to change their When you know how to identify and track
processes where necessary. Without process variation, you will know how to distinguish
ownership team improvement efforts risk being between special (assignable) and common
ineffective because of the threat of external (inherent) causes of variation. Work to identify
reversal of their efforts or because of a disinterest the special causes such as poor training or power
in the effort as a whole. surges that are not endemic to the process itself.
You should also identify common causes that are
4. Carefully Define Your Processes variations within the process such as machine
error or material variability. Once you identify
Process definition is an essential the causes of variability, you should work to
prerequisite to process improvement. You remove them and reduce the variability.
cannot improve what you cannot define. Process
definition begins by defining the customer, As you eliminate special causes of
whether that customer is internal or external to variation, the performance of a process will
your organization. If your process has no become stable. Variation will still arise from
customer, that process is unnecessary. In common causes, but you will be able to predict
addition to defining your customer, you must within a known range ("control limits") how
also define your inputs and outputs and how to much variation you can expect in the output of

2-28
 General Strategy for Getting Started

the process. Such a process is said to be "in levels are different from those seen in the stable
statistical control." process, then you must look toward innovation or
fundamental changes in the process structure to
7. Standardize and Improve on Current achieve new performance levels.
Best-Known Methods
9. Remove Complexity: Simplify,
Your process must be clearly described Consolidate, Eliminate
and readily understood by all individuals who
will participate in it. Make standards readily Before making major changes in the ways
available for reference by the people who will you do things, you should try to simplify and
participate in the process. The process standard consolidate your processes as much as possible
should be developed by its participants. You and eliminate unnecessary steps or processes.
should encourage them to follow the current Great savings may be realized by eliminating
standard and to improve the process both wasteful effort, and the result is processes that
through group improvement activities and are more productive, efficient, timely, and that
individual initiatives. Process standards should better meet their customers' needs. During your
allow for easy and frequent process process definition effort you will discover many
improvements. places your processes may be streamlined;
subsequent process improvement efforts should
Process standards are worthless if they are initially focus on identifying further
not current and up-to-date. Processes should be simplifications. Only after your processes are
continually improved, and you must keep pace by completely streamlined should you consider
updating process standards correspondingly. major investments in automation and
Maintaining process standards is vital to equipment.
ensuring that jobs are being done the best-known
way and ensuring that people are implementing 10. Encourage Small Incremental
the results of their improvement efforts. Groups Improvements
and individuals should formally incorporate all
process improvements in the written process Incremental improvements are the real
standards as those improvements are proven and strength of the improvement effort. While
implemented. Make the new standards available innovation usually provides the potential for
to everyone as soon as possible so all may begin great leaps in capability, its opportunities are
to benefit from the latest improvements. Ensure relatively rare and infrequent. Incremental
processes that are improved as the result of improvements to existing processes and
inuividual improvement efforts have their capabilities are the way you achieve continuous
standards updated just as quickly and formally improvement. You ensure that improvement is
as those of processes improved by team efforts. measurable and definite to the extent possible.
Your expectations should be framed not in terms
8. Assess Process Capability of giant steps forward but moderate, deliberate
increments of improvement. The sum of the
Once you have a stable process in incremental improvements you achieve, both
statistical control and have all operators of that through individual and group activity, will be
process using standard procedures, you will be equally as impressive as those gains achieved
able to assess the capability of the process as it is through innovation.
currently structured. If your des i -ed performance

2..29
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

EXPAND CULTURE TO SUPPLIERS

Your organization's ability to improve its processes depends in part on the

inputs to those processes. To the extent that you procure materialsand services from
other organizations,your continuous improvement effort depends on those suppliers.
Expandingyour improvement culture to all your suppliers will help ensure that the
quality of your process inputs is sufficient to meet your own improvement objectives.
You can expand your culture of continuous improvement by working more closely
with your suppliers, helping them get their own improvement efforts underway,
removing roadblocks to an effective acquisitionprocess, building mutual trust and
respect, and generally by becoming a better customer yourself. While some of the
accepted practices described here may appear to contradict current legislation and
Government practice,you should nevertheless investigate them to determine how you
might take best advantageof them within the existing system.

"When you starve with a tiger, the tiger starves last."

Walt Kelley

1. Simplify the Acquisition Process 2. Involve Suppliers Early

A complicated, bureaucratic acquisition Total Quality Management is a lengthy

process irritates your suppliers and discourages process requiring years to reach maturity. If you
their participation in your work. It can hide wait for your own effort to become mature before
inefficiencies in the overall supply process and is involving your suppliers, it may be twice as long
likely to hinder timely procurement of the before you see improvements in your purchased
appropriate materials and services. By materials and services. Involving your suppliers
examining your acquisition process and early will help you reap maximum benefit from
eliminating unnecessary or duplicative your improvement effort and theirs as soon as
requirements and procedures, you will be able to possible. Additionally, involving suppliers early
procure needed inputs much more effectively and will enable each of you to take advantage of
efficiently. Applying TQM to procurement lessons learned by the other at times when they
processes is one logical means of simplifying will be useful to you both.
them; the process improvement cycle will
identify and address areas needing
improvement. The resulting improved process
will benefit both you and your suppliers.

2-30
 General Strategy for Getting Started

3. Engage Suppliers in Mutual Problem- regulations. Resultant reduced inspection of

Solving supplier products is a mutual benefit for you and
your suppliers. Suppliers must know that their
If you can encourage your suppliers to efforts to improve are recognized, that you
participate in solving problems affecting you believe those efforts are important, and that you
both, you will benefit from the perspective of are willing to demonstrate your belief.
both parties. Forming joint customer/supplier
teams to work on mutual problems is one means 6. If Possible, Minimize the Number of
of addressing these problems. Such teams are Suppliers
particularly appropriate since the customer and
the supplier are joint owners of many of the The increased amount of attention you
acquisition processes. These joint teams must devote to your suppliers in a TQM environment
work to achieve mutually agreed-upon objectives implies that ideally you should embark on closer,
with the overall goal of improving the way their longer term partnerships with fewer suppliers.
business is conducted. To the extent that such relationships are possible
in your organization, you should restrict your
4. Help Suppliers Improve business dealings to only those suppliers with
demonstrated TQM enthusiasm and growing
You can best increase the quality of your capability. You should notify your existing
procured materials and services if you assist suppliers of your intent and give them the
your suppliers in improving their own processes. chance to institute their own TQM efforts, but
You may do so by holding supplier TQM ultimately your improvement objectives will not
seminars, allowing suppliers to attend your own be attainable unless all your suppliers subscribe
classes or training sessions, instituting to the set of beliefs and practices to which you
personnel exchange programs, and providing subscribe.
quantitative data to suppliers on their
performance. These activities must take place in 7. Go with the Few Best and Improvement-
an unrestricted atmosphere if they are to have Oriented Suppliers
substantial effect. You must treat your suppliers
as though they are part of your own organization, Distinguishing among suppliers may be
for in effect they are as important a part as you or difficult at first. By using an objective set of
your subordinates. criteria to evaluate your suppliers, you will find
it easier to determine the suppliers with whom
5. Reward Improving Suppliers you will be able to develop the best long-term
Appropriately relationships. Key things to look for in a
supplier mirror the significant elements of your
Recognizing improvement is important to own improvement effort: a vision of continuous
individuals and groups within your organization, process improvement, leadership by top
and it means a great deal to your suppliers as management, a focus on teamwork, and an
well. You may reward suppliers that emphasis on data-driven improvement. If you
demonstrate improvement with reduced identify the significant elements of your
oversight of their processes, additional contract improvement effort, you will also identify those
awards, pricing or performance preferences, or elements you will find important in your
increased contract profit levels, depending on suppliers' efforts.
your organization's acquisition policies and

2-31
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

8. Listen to Suppliers determine rough spots and roadblocks, especially

those -you create yourself. Those that you
Being the best customer you can be means identify or are identified to you by your suppliers
you must listen to your suppliers' requirements should be promptly and effectively removed.
for clear, concise identification of your needs, Don't just streamline processes to reduce the
requirements, and expectations. Your suppliers time required: ensure you are removing only true
cannot provide you the materials and services barriers and non-value-added effort. By
you require unless your requirements are clearly applying TQM to your acquisition process and by
and explicitly stated. Define clearly what you listening to your suppliers, you will identify and
are talking about. You must ascertain that your remove most of the existing and emergent
suppliers understand what you are saying, and barriers.
that they are capable of meeting your needs.
Listening to your suppliers will also ensure that 10. Work to Build Mutual Trust and Respect
you are up to date on the status of their own
improvement efforts. Because your needs and Developing a long-term partnership
requirements are never static, listening is an depends on establishing an atmosphere of
ongoing effort. mutual trust and respect. Without that trust
your efforts to help suppliers develop their own
9. Remove Roadblocks and Barriers Instead TQM efforts will not be fully accepted; neither
of Creating Them will you unconditionally accept your suppliers'
improvement results. By approaching business
As with other areas of TQM, one of the negotiations in an open manner, by establishing
most effective things you can do as a customer is joint problem-solving efforts, and by offering to
remove roadblocks and barriers to effective share your improvement expertise with your
acquisition processes. In addition to suppliers, you will create a great deal of good will
streamlining the processes, you should that will provide a foundation for the desired
continually evaluate your acquisition efforts to atmosphere of mutual trust and respect.

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 CHAPTER 3

A GENERAL MODEL FOR IMPROVEMENT

As representations of something existing or planned, models provide useful

examples upon which to pattern behavior or activity. The value of a model lies in its
unique power to communicate the essential aspects of its subject. Experts in the field
have produced a variety of models to aid in starting and sustaining improvement
efforts. Such a model allows you to discuss an improvement effort or approach with
others and relate the philosophy and principles that you contemplate for the
organizationto specific situations. By using a model you may more easily troubleshoot
your TQM approach and more effectively plan your implementation. Since each
organizationand situation is unique, however, no single model is appropriatefor every
effort. Each organization must ultimately craft its own approach to improvement
based on its own specific needs and imperatives.

In this chapter we provide a general model for continuous improvement, a model

that creates a logical context for implementing the strategy described in Chapter 2.
While your organization must ultimately define its own model, the model described
here offers a starting place. It is divided into three general categories:
(1) organizational transformation, (2) process improvement, and (3) individual
improvement. Appendix A presents brief descriptions of some representative models
used by experts in the continuous improvement field; those descriptionsshould give you
some indicationof how variouspeople have approachedconstructinga model.

3-1
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION MODELS The transformation model should also

encompass your models for process improvement
Organizational transformation addresses and individual improvement, as explained later
how to lay the groundwork for instilling and in this chapter.
sustaining a culture of continuous improvement.
In considering organizational transformation, You can approach organizational
you are concerned with many issues including transformation in a number of ways. You can
the following ones: use specific step-by-step approaches that rather
rigidly prescribe activities and initiatives, or you
* Establishing a vision of where the can take general activity management
organization wants to go and approaches in which you focus on streams of
articulating a mission statement activity that continue throughout the life of your
improvement effort. We can, however, cite the
* Building organizational awareness of following broad activities that you should
the need for change and the benefits of address in your organizational transformation
improvement efforts such as TQM effort:

* Establishing leadership of the 0 Envisioning your organization's

improvement effort mission, goals, and objectives

* Removing barriers and other 0 Enabling the achievement of that

demotivating factors vision

" Creating supportive environmental 0 Focusing improvement efforts on

systems achieving the vision

" Structuring the improvement within * Actually improving processes and

your organization functions

* Creating a constancy of purpose 0 Building teams to support your

throughout the organization improvement effort

" Encouraging and empowering * Educating and training people in your

individual and group participation organization as necessary.

" Developing and promulgating a Table 3-1 presents a summary of the elements
standard approach to process that may be included within those activities. As
improvement a rule, most successful improvement efforts in
the public and private sectors apply the majority
" Enabling team formation and of these elements in their models and approaches
activities to continuous improvement. The better you are
able to combine these elements in your specific
" Providing extensive and situation, the more likely your chances of
comprehensive education and training success.
for every individual in your
organization.

3-2
 A GeneralModel for Improvement

TABLE 3-1

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION MODEL ELEMENTS

Envision and enable

Recognize the need to change
Use outside consultants to start
Develop internal facilitators
Form a steering committee
Educate members in TQM philosophy
Establish a vision for the organization
Develop a business strategy
Prepare a mission statement
Prepare a TQM information package
Make a long-term commitment
Demonstrate top-management commitment
Make "time for improvement" a policy
Conduct an internal assessment
Relate TQM principles to the organization
Examine policies and practices
Examine communication processes
Open communication channels
Remove obvious barriers to improvement
Eliminate systemic sources of fear
Create a conducive environment
Examine and improve support systems
Align reward and recognition with TQM
Conduct an external assessment
Establish a customer focus
Understand customer needs and expectations
Encourage individual effort
Establish an effective suggestion system
Stimulate creative thinking
Empower individuals to make a difference
Enable individual improvements (see "Individual-Improvement Model")

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

TABLE 3-1

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION MODEL ELEMENTS (Continued)

Focus
Develop an improvement plan
Establish goals and objectives
Develop a top-level measurement system
Inform and involve everyone
Disseminate an information package to everyone
Discuss TQM throughout the organization
Deploy goals and objectives into the organization
Involve customers and suppliers
Learn
Define learning needs
Develop learning systems
Determine learning methods
Obtain materials
Train and educate just in time
Train on the job
Let supervisors train subordinates
Provide staff support
Make training and education a high priority
Recognize and reward learning achievement
Team build
Cultivate leadership
Choose and develop champions
Select team members
Establish the purpose for teams
Form teams
Create cross-functional teams
Create special teams
Train teams
Designate team leaders
Link champions with teams
Remove team obstacles
Form process-improvement teams
Train improvement teams

3-4
 A GeneralModel for Improvement

TABLE 3-1

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION MODEL ELEMENTS (Continued)

Team build (Continued)

Use improvement projects
Integrate natural work-group teams
Recognize and reward TQM behavior
Support continuous improvement
Improve
Employ a disciplined methodology (see "Process-Improvement Model")
Initiate improvement cycle activity
Develop process/team measurement systems
Define and standardize processes
Gain control of processes
Simplify processes
Improve processes
Eliminate non-value-added activity
Make processes foolproof
Focus on upstream processes
Apply simultaneous engineering concepts
Apply robust design development concepts
Focus on system inputs
Apply just-in-time concepts
Focus on organizational systems
Apply cellular processing concepts
Apply leadtime reduction concepts
Focus on system outputs
Apply inventory reduction concepts
Focus on downstream processes
Apply timely feedback concepts
Evaluate
Measure organizational performance
Assess and analyze data
Evaluate improvement results
Assess progress
Recycle improvement efforts

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Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

PROCESS-IMPROVEMENT MODELS internal conditions. The process-improvement

model provides you a plan for identifying and
Process-improvement models are essential defining your processes, identifying
elements of any improvement effort. By improvement opportunities, implementing and
improving processes, you ultimately improve the evaluating improvement efforts, and
overall quality of your organization's products determining the next area for improvement.
and services. Although certain specific
techniques will be more appropriate for some Most process-improvement models are
organizational elements than others at a given based on the classic Shewhart/Deming Plan-Do-
time, you should approach process improvement Check-Act (PDCA) cycle (the examples in
consistently throughout your organization. An Appendix A are consistent in this regard)
inconsistent approach will lead to wherein you routinely and cyclically pursue
communication failures, inability to coordinate process improvements and evaluate those
improvement efforts throughout the improvements based on hard statistical data that
organization, and a general lack of agreement on you collect. A variety of tools are available to
how to structure the cross-functional support the process-improvement effort,
improvement efforts essential to the total including the all-important seven basic graphic
organizational effort. tools discussed briefly in Appendix B. The
process-improvement models are integrated into
A process-improvement model provides organizational transformation models in some
you a structure within which to perform cases, but process improvement is ultimately
individual process-improvement efforts. Process where "the rubber meets the road." Table 3-2
improvement is a cyclic, never-ending activity, provides you a list of elements common among
Consistent with an organizational culture of most process-improvement models. Again, you
continuous improvement, a completed process- will have to structure your own model in a way
improvement effort is followed by another that makes sense given the context of your
improvement effort, and another and another as organization, but the elements in Table 3-2 and
the organization continually improves its the examples in Appendix A will give you a place
effectiveness and reacts to changing external and to start.

3-6
 A General Model for Improvement

TABLE 3-2

PROCESS-IMPROVEMENT MODEL ELEMENTS

Set the stage for process improvement

Create the environment
Select the improvement team
Train the improvement team
Educate about improvement tools
Discuss mission statement
Discuss quality issues
Set ground rules and determine logistics
Select a process to improve
Identify opportunities
Set priorities and select opportunities
Localize the problem
Create an improvement plan
Establish operational definitions
Establish team objectives
Define the process
Describe the process or problem
Flow chart the process
Identify supplier/customer relationship
Identify key measures of performance
Relate measures to customer needs and expectations
Ensure capable measurement system
Standardize the process (SDCA)
Standardize
Standardize procedures
Assess process stability
Reduce variation in measure system
Assure controlled measure system
Analyze special causes of variation
Correct special causes
Bring process under control
Document the standard

Note: SDCA = Standardize-DoCheck-Act,

3-7
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

TABLE 3-2

PROCESS-IMPROVEMENT MODEL ELEMENTS (Continued)

Standardize the process (SDCA) (Continued)

Standardize (continued)
Communicate the standard
Promote the standard
Do
Train to the standard
Enable the standard
Enforce the standard
Check
Measure results to the standard
Respond to deviation from the standard
Identify root causes of variation
Analyze common causes of variation
Act
Reduce variation in process
Prevent recurrent deviation from standard
Document standarc' improvements
Revise the standard
Tighten the process
Assess process capability against requirements
Streamline the process
Error-proof the process
Straighten up the work area
Eliminate unnecessary equipment
Institute total productive maintenance
Document lessons learned
Collect and maintain process performance data
Improve the process (PDCA)
Plan
Develop questions
Develop a theory
Analyze available process data
State a goal

Note: SDCA = Standardize-Do-Check-Act

3-8
 A General Model for Improvement

TABLE 3-2

PROCESS-IMPROVEMENT MODEL ELEMENTS (Continued)

Improve the process (PDCA) (Continued)

Plan (Continued)
Plan a change or test
Design system changes
Define expected outcomes
Identify process measures
Plan data collection strategy
Establish a test measurement process
Test and refine data collection
Do
Train to the plan
Enable the plan
Conduct cause-and-effect analyses
Carry out the change or test
Follow the plan
Experiment with process changes
Check
Observe/collect the data
Analyze the data
Look for pattern in the data
Compare the data with theory
Respond to deviations from the plan
Identify root causes
Determine the type of cause
Correct special causes immediately
Look for alternative solutions
Determine the impact on outcomes
Determine whether the objectives are met
Determine whether the theory needs revision
Summarize what was learned
Act
Prevent recurrent deviation
Redesign products or processes

Note: SDCA = Standardize-Do-Check-Act

3-9
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

TABLE 3-2

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT MODEL ELEMENTS (Continued)

Improve the process (PDCA) (Continued)

Act (Continued)
Implement permanent change in the process
Continue to collect and analyze data
Document and standardize the change
Continuously monitor the process
Develop a strategy for further improvement
Repeat SDCA and PDCA cycles
Assess improvement performance
Organize data
Document project results in picture-book format
Make final presentations of PDCA story
Evaluate team methods
Evaluate project results
Recommend follow-up activity
Celebrate PDCA cycle completion
Recognize and reward TQM behavior
Select a new process to improve

Note: SDCA = Standardize-Do-Check-Act

3-10
 A GeneralModel for Improvement

INDIVIDUAL-IMPROVEMENT MODELS with formal organizational systems. The models

are concerned with the same issues as the
While you hope to improve your organizational transformation models:
organization through a transformation that envisioning the individual's goal for personal
creates a culture of continuous improvement, the improvement and enabling that vision; focusing
organization does not change itself. As valuable the individual's improvement efforts and
as team efforts in a formal organization performing those efforts in a s, ructured,
structure may be, the real force behind changing disciplined manner; and educating and training
your organization's culture is the cumulative the individual to provide the knowledge
impact of all individuals' efforts to improve their necessary to undertake a individual-
jobs, their situations, and themselves. improvement effort.
Individual-improvement models are helpful in
focusing the personal improvement efforts of You may wish to pursue your own
every person in your organization. To some individual-improvement effort. To do so you
extent they embody the objective3 and ideals of would do well to construct your own personal
the orga, zational transformation models on a model, given your situation within your
smaller, individual scale. organization and your organization's
environment. Tailor the model so it applies to
Individual self-improvement techniques, you specifically, but within the context of your
both internal and external to formal organization's larger improvement effort.
improvement efforts, provide the means by Table 3-3 lists a number of elements you should
which any person may ap'ly TQM-style consider in constructing your own personal
structure and discipline to everyday activities, model; the elements listed are those considered
Individual-improvement models address this the most essential for successful improvement
application of stc-ucture, discipline, and efforts. Appendix A provides you some examples
technique and also address the individual's of how these elements may be applied.
interaction with superiors and subordinates and

3-11
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

TABLE 3-3

INDIVIDUAL-IMPROVEMENT MODEL ELEMENTS

Envision personal improvement

Cultivate your self-awareness/image
Develop behavior/expectation matrices
Assess relationship with your supervisor
Assess relationships with your peers
Assess relationships with your subordinates
Assess relationships with the union
Assess relationships with your customers
Evaluate your need/desire to improve
Create a personal vision for improvement
Enable personal improvement
Improve your education
Study TQM concepts
Attend TQM conferences
Pursue training just in time
See your job as a learning experience
Learn to use the TQM tools
Learn to measure and understand processes
Learn to use data to support your decisions
Learn to differentiate data from information
Seek support for your improvement effort
Focus on improvement
Examine your mission
Establish your goals and objectives
Communicate your goals
Develop a personal-i m provement strategy/plan
Create job outcome/TQM behavior matrix
Describe your behavior vis-a-vis subordinates
Perform a personal signal analysis
Make improvement a high priority
Make time in your schedule to improve
Organize your activity to make improvement possible
Recognize your responsibility to improve
Take advantage of learning opportunities

3-12
 A General Model for Improvement

TABLE 3-3

INDIVIDUAL-IMPROVEMENT MODEL ELEMENTS (Continued)

Improve your job

Define your job
Recognize the processes you own
Address your job processes
Understand how your processes link to others
Understand the capabilities and limitations of your processes
Know your customers
Understand your customers' needs and expectations
Establish routine dialogue with your customers
Identify problem areas in your job
Address critical areas first
Use a systematic approach to improvement
Remove complexity and simplify your job
Pursue small incremental improvements
Improve yourself
Constantly challenge your behavior
Demonstrate leadership
Demonstrate commitment
Take initiative
Take a long-term view
Set an example
Maintain self-control
Align your activities with your goals
Continuously pursue your goals
Expect improvement in yourself
Make personal improvement a routine
Become a good team player
Foster cooperation
Foster communication
Be observant
Become a good listener
Open up your communication channels
Remove the barriers you erect

3-13
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

TABLE 3-3

INDIVIDUAL-IMPROVEMENT MODEL ELEMENTS (Continued)

Improve yourself (Continued)

Work to eliminate your fears
Don't be unduly critical of yourself
Pursue innovative thinking and new ideas
Eliminate roadblocks
Trust and deserve trust
Help others improve
Make time in your schedule to help others improve
Involve others in decision processes
Train others
Coach and nurture
Create more leaders
Facilitate teamwork
Help remove others' barriers
Learn what questions to ask and how to ask them
Encourage small improvements by others
Promote innovative thinking by others
Support implementation of subordinates' ideas
Welcome the news of problems as opportunities
Expect improvement in others
Help remove the sources of others' fears
Welcome the new ideas of others
Evaluate your improvement
Recognize the value of correct effort versus results
Judge others fairly and correctly
Don't be unduly critical of others
Document improvement in an improvement journal
Celebrate your successes
Celebrate the successes of others

3-14
 A General Model for Improvement

SUMMARY suggestions for items to consider when

constructing your models; they are suggestions
You should model your planned that have been proven in practice, however. The
improvement effort before you begin, examples in Appendix A will provide you
Constructing a model will help you lay out your additional ideas for developing your own models.
proposed effort in your mind and will help in
communicating your plans to others. You will You begin your improvement effort now.
discover ways in which your planned effort It should be an exciting journey of self-discovery,
might be improved even before you begin. The action, and improvement. Good luck and joy on
elements listed in the tables of this chapter are your journey!

3-15
 REFERENCE MATERIAL

Continuous improvement requires the continuous acquisition of new knowledge.

The knowledge of many individuals who have already started their own Total Quality
Management (TQM) journeys is reflected in the wide variety of books, articles, and
audio-visual materials now available. This listing of reference material is by no
means exhaustive, but it is intentionallyextensive for the benefit of those who may wish
to begin their own reference libraries. The list is divided into a suggested reading
section that contains material you may find particularlyuseful while getting started
and an additional reading section that may provide useful concepts and ideas to
expandyour overall understandingof the TQM concept.

SUGGESTED READING - BOOKS

Deming, W. Edwards. Out of the Crisis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Center for Advanced Engineering Study. Cambridge, Mass. 1985.
Feigenbaum, Armand V. Total Quality Control. New York: McGraw-Hill Book
Company. 1983.

Imai, Masaaki. Kaizen. New York: Random House. 1986.

Ishikawa, Kaoru. Guide to Quality Control. Asian Productivity Organization. 1984.

Ishikawa, Kaoru. What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way. Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. 1985.

Juran, J. M. ManagerialBreakthrough. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

1964.
Juran, J. M. Quality Control Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
1974.
Kume, Hitoshi. Statistical Methods for Quality Improvement. New York: The
Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship. UNIPUB. 1985.

Mansir, Brian E. and Nicholas R. Schacht. Introduction to the Continuous

Improvement Process: Principles and Practices. LMI Report IR806R1.
Aug 1989.

Schein, Edgar. OrganizationalCulture and Leadership. San Francisco, Calif.:

Jossey Bass. 1985.

Ref. 1
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Scherkenbach, William W. The Deming Route to Quality and Productivity.

Washington, D.C.: CEE Press Books. George Washington University. 1986.
Scholtes, Peter R. The Team Handbook. Madison, Wis.: Joiner Associates. 1988.
Schonberger, Richard J. JapaneseManufacturingTechniques: Nine Hidden Lessons
in Simplicity. New York: The Free Press. 1982.
ADDITIONAL READINGS - BOOKS
Argyris, Chris. Integratingthe Individual and the Organization. New York: John
Wiley and Sons. 1964.
Bennis, Warren. The Planningof Change. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
1976.
Collins, Frank C. Quality: The Ball is in Your Court. Milwaukee, Wis.: ASCQ
Quality Press. 1986.
Fukuda, Ryuji. Managerial Engineering: Techniques for Improving Quality and
Productivityin the Workplace. Productivity Press. Stamford, Conn. 1984.

Gitlow, Howard and Shelly Gitlow. The Deming Guide to Quality and Competitive
Position. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. 1986.
Gordon, Thomas. Leader Effectiveness Training. New York: Bantam Books. 1977.

Groocock, John M. The Chain of Quality. Milwaukee, Wis.: ASCQ Quality Press.
1986.
Hall, Robert W. Zero Inventories. Homewood, Ill.: Dow Jones-Irwin. 1983.
Harrington, H. James. Excellence the IBM Way. Milwaukee, Wis.: ASCQ Quality
Press. 1986.
Harrington, H. James. The Quality/Profit Connection. Milwaukee, Wis.: ASCQ
Quality Press. 1986.
Harrington, H. James. The Improvement Process. New York: McGraw-Hill Book
Company. 1987.
Hayse, Robert H. and Steven C. Wheelwright. Restoring Our Competitive Edge:
Competing Through Manufacturing. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1984.

Hickman, Craig and Michael Silva. CreatingExcellence. New York: New American
Library. 1984.
Juran, J. M. and Frank M. Gryna, Jr. Quality Planning and Analysis. New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Company. 1980.

Ref 2
 Reference Material

Juran, J. M. Juran on Leadership for Quality. Milwaukee, Wis.: ASCQ Quality

Press. 1986.
Juran, J. M. Juranon Planningfor Quality. New York: The Free Press. 1988.
Kanter, Rosebeth Moss. The Change Masters. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1983.
Kepner, Charles H. and Benjamin B. Tregoe. The New RationalManager. Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton Research Press. 1981.
Likert, Rensis. New Patternsof Management. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1961.
Mann, Nancy R. The Keys to Excellence. Santa Monica, Calif.: Prestwick Books.
1985.
McGregor, Douglas. Leadership and Motivation. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.
1983.
Mitzenberg, H. The Nature of ManagerialWork. New York: Harper & Row. 1973.
Monden, Yasuhiro. Toyota Production System. Institute of Industrial Engineers.
Norcross, Ga. 1982.
Ouchi, William G. Theory Z. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing
Company. 1981.
Schonberger, Richard J. World Class Manufacturing - The Lessons of Simplicity
Applied. New York: The Free Press. 1986.
Shores, Richard A. Survival of the Fittest. Milwaukee, Wis.: ASCQ Quality Press.
1986.
Stratton, A. Donald. An Approach to Quality Improvement that Works. Milwaukee,
Wis.: ASCQ Quality Press. 1986.
Taguchi, Genichi and Yuin Wu. Introduction to Off-Line Quality Control. Tokyo,
Japan: Central Japan Quality Control Association. 1979.
Townsend, Patrick L. Commit to Quality. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1986.
Tribus, Myron. Quality First: Selected Papers on Quality and Productivity
Improvement. American Quality and Productivity Institute. National Society
of Professional Engineers. Washington, D.C. Mar 1988.
Wadsworth, Stephens and Blan Godfrey. Modern Methods for Quality Control and
Improverment. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1986.
Walton, Mary. The Deming Management Method. New York: Dodd, Mead &
Company. 1986.

Ref. 3
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Western Electric. Statistical Quality Control Handbook. Easton, Pa.: Mack

Publishing Company. 1977.
Wheeler, Donald J. and David S. Chambers. Understanding Statistical Process
Control. Knoxville, Tenn.: Statistical Process Controls, Inc. 1986.
SUGGESTED READING - ARTICLES
Garvin, David A. "Quality on the Line." Harvard Business Review. Sept-
Oct 1983.
Joiner, Brian and Peter Scholtes. "The Quality Manager's New Job." Quality
Progress. Oct 1986.
Juran, J. M. "The Quality Trilogy." QualityProgress. Aug 1986.
McLean, Gary N. and Sam Parkenham-Walsh. "An In-Process Model for Improving
Quality Management Processes." Consultation. Volume 6, Number 3.
Fall 1987.
Moen, Ronald D. and Thomas W. Nolan. "Process Improvement." Quality Progress.
Sep 1987.
Scholtes, Peter R. and Heero Harquebord. "Six Strategies for Beginning the Quality
Transformation, Part I." Quality Progress. Jul 1988.
Scholtes, Peter R. and Heero Harquebord. "Six Strategies for Beginning the Quality
Transformation, Part II." QualityProgress. Aug 1988.
ADDITIONAL READING - ARTICLES

Farrow, John. "Quality Audits: An Invitation to Managers." Quality Progress.

Jan 1987.
Fuller, F. Timothy. "Eliminating Complexity from Work: Improving Productivity by
Enhancing Quality." NationalProductivityReview. Autumn 1985.

Hayse, Robert H. "Why Japanese Factories Work." HarvardBusiness Review. Jul -

Aug 1981.
Kacker, Raghu N. "Quality Planning for Service Industries." Quality Progress.
Aug 1988.
Kaplan, Robert S. "Yesterday's Accounting Undermines Production." Harvard
Business Review. Jul-Aug 1984.
Kaplan, Robert S. "Measuring Manufacturing Performance: A New Challenge for
Managerial Accounting Research." The Accounting Review. Feb 1985.

Ref. 4
 Reference Material

Leonard, Frank S. and W. Earl Sasser. "The Incline of Quality." HarvardBusiness

Review. Sep-Oct 1982.
Melan, Eugene H. "Process Management in Service and Administrative
Operations." Quality Progress. Jun 1985.

Miller, Jeffery G. and Thomas E. Vollmann. "The Hidden Factory." Harvard

Business Review. Sep-Oct 1985.
Shimoyamada, Kaoru. "The President's Audit: QC Audit at Komatsu." Quality
Progress. Jan 1987.

Schonberger, Richard J. "A Revolutionary Way to Streamline the Factory." The

Wall Street Journal. 15 Nov 1982.

Schonberger, Richard J. "Integration of Cellular Manufacturing with Just-in-Time

Production." IndustrialEngineering. Dec 1982.

Schonberger, Richard J. "Production Workers Bear Major Responsibility in Japanese

Industry." IndustrialEngineering. Dec 1982.

Schonberger, Richard J. "Rationalizing the Workplace: First Step in Implementing

Robotics." Robot-X News. 15 Feb 1983.
Schonberger, Richard J. "Just-in-Time Purchasing: A Challenge for U.S. Industry."
CaliforniaManagement Review. Autumn 1983.
Schonberger, Richard J. "rWork Improvement Programs: Quality Circles Compared
with Traditional and Evolving Western Approaches." InternationalJournalof
Operationsand ProductionManagement. Vol. 3, No. 2. 1983.

Schonberger, Richard J. and Marc Schniederjans. "Reinventing Inventory Control."

Interfaces. May -Jun 1984.
Schonberger, Richard J. "The Quality Dividend of Just-in-Time Production."
Quality Progress. Oct 1984.

Schultz, Louis E. "Creating a Vision for Strategy and Quality: A Way to Help
Management Assume Leadership." Concepts in Quality Proceedings.
Nov 1988.
Sullivan, Laurance P. "Quality Function Deployment." QuUttty Progress. Jun 1986.
Suzaki, Kiyoshi. "Work-in-Process Management: An Illustrated Guide to
Productivity Management." Production and Inventory Management. Third
Quarter 1985.
Walleigh, Richard C. "What's Your Excuse for Not Using JIT?" HarvardBusiness
Review. Mar-Apr 1986.

Ref. 5
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

ADDITIONAL READING - ABSTRACTS

Bruning, Walter. "Quality is Not Optional." Bloomington, Minn.: Process
Management Institute.
Nash, Matt. "Quality Improvement in Administrative Functions Through Process
Analysis." Bloomington, Minn.: Process Management Institute.
Schultz, Louis E. "The Role of Top Management in Effecting Change to Improve
Quality and Productivity." Bloomington, Minn.: Process Management
Institute.
VIDEOTAPES, FILMS, AND SLIDE PRESENTATIONS
CasablancaNights. Film. 17 minutes. Revlon Corporation. (Problem solving).

Commitment to Quality. Tape. 30 minutes. Britannica Training and Development.

If JapanCan, Why Can't We? Tape. 77 minutes. NBC White Paper.
Japan vs. U.S.A. - High-Tech Shootout. Tape. 52 minutes. Films incorporated for
NBC Reports.
Nashua Seminar - William Conway. Tape. 160 minutes. Nashua Corporation.
(Process control).
On the Line. Tape. 37 minutes. King Arthur Productions for National
Semiconductor. (Productivity improvement).
Pluto. Computer Based Learning Program. 6 hours. Intertek. Rolling Hills, Calif.
(Statistical process control).
Quality ControlCircles. Slides. W. S. Reiker. (Team problem solving).

Quality is Free. Tape. 23 minutes. Phil Crosby.

The Deming Videotapes: Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Type Z: An Alternative Management Style. Film. 105 minutes. Professor William
Ouchi.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Federal Quality Institute

1621 N. Kent Street, Room 11 12-RPE
Arlington, VA 22209
(703) 235-2930

Ref. 6
 Reference Material

Defense Systems Management College

Fort Belvoir, VA
(703) 664-2457
Naval Personnel Research and Development Center
San Diego, CA
(619) 553-7979
Logistics Management Institute
6400 Goldsboro Road
Bethesda, MD 20817-5886
(301) 320-2000

Ref. 7
 APPENDIX A

SOME MODELS FOR IMPROVEMENT

 SOME MODELS FOR IMPROVEMENT

INTRODUCTION

In this appendix we present several of the most popular improvement models.

Each model addresses a specific aspect of improvement. Therefore, while they share
many attributes in common, they differ significantly in many fundamental ways. The
approach that may best suit your needs may well be a synthesis of these various
approaches. The models fall into three general categories: (1) organizational
transformation models, (2) process-improvement, or problem-solving, models, and
(3) individual-improvementmodels.

An organizationaltransformationmodel addresses the process of organizational

change. It is concerned with management structures, environmental factors, and a
broad array of issues relevant to the overall organization. Five basic transformation
models are examined here: the Defense Systems Management College's (DSMC's)
Quality and Productivity Management Practices (Q&PMP) Model;1 the
DSMC/Advanced Technology, Inc. (ATI) Performance Improvement Model;2 the
Process Management Institute's (PMI's) Improving the Quality of Management
Processes (IQMP) Model;3 the JoinerAssociates' Streams of Activity Model;4 and the
Logistics Management Institute's (LMI's) Continuous Improvement Process (CIP)
Model.5

Process-improvement models address the creation of positive change in the way

work is accomplished. They address the defining of work flows, strengthening of
supplier-customer relationships,elimination of non-value-added effort, reduction of

'Quality and Productivity Management Practices on Defense Programs. Fort Belvoir, Va.:
Defense Systems Management College. 1988.
2lbid.
3Improving the Quality of Management Processes (IQMP) Model. Process Management
Institute. Bloomington, Minn. 1989.
4Joiner Associates, Inc. Madison, Wis. 1989.
5Mansir, Brian E., and Nicholas R. Schacht. Introduction to the Continuous Improvement
Process: Principlesand Practices. LMI Report IR806R1. Aug 1989.

A-3
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

variation,and controlling of processes. Five basic process-improvement models are

examined here: the Moen and Nolan Strategy for ProcessImprovement;6 the Naval
Personnel Research and Development Center (NPRDC) Total Quality Management
(TQM) Process-Improvement Model; 7 the Florida Power and Light (FPL)
Improvement OpportunityProcess;8 the Joiner Associates' Model of Progress;9 and the
LMI CIP Model.*0

Individual improvement models are techniques for individual self-improvement,

both internal and external to formal TQM efforts. They provide techniques by which
any person may apply TQM-style structure and discipline to his/her everyday
activities. Individual improvement models also address the individual's interaction
with superiorsand subordinatesand with formal organizationalsystems. The models
presented here are the PMI Leadership Expectation Setting (L.E.S.) Model, 11 the PMI
Quality Journal,1 2 and the LMI CIP Model.13 Each is described briefly below and in
more detail in the references.

6 Moen,
Ronald D., and Thomas W. Nolan. "Process Improvement: A Step-By-Step Approach
to Analyzing and Improving a Process." Quality Progress. Sep 1987.
7Dockstader, S.L., and A. I-., ston. Defining the Deming Cycle: A Total Quality Management
Process Improvement Model. San Diego, Calif. Navy Personnel Research and Development Center.
1988.
8FPL Quality Improvement Program Team Guidebook. Miami, Fla. Florida Power and Light
Company. 1988.
9
Scholtes, Peter R., et al. The Team Handbook. Madison, Wis. Joiner Associates, Inc. 1988.

10Mansir, Brian E. Ibid.

IISchultz, Louis E. LE.S.Management. Bloomington, Minn. Process Management Institute.
1989.
12Schultz, Louis E. The Quality Journal. Bloomington, Minn. Process Management Institute.
1989.
13 Mansir, Brian E. Ibid.

A-4
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION MODELS

DSMC Q&PMP Model

The DSMC Q&PMP Model, shown in Figure A-i, is a broad conceptual model
with interrelated actions and emphases that describe a general process for
transformation from the point at which an organization recognizes that it needs
change to the point at which it becomes a competitive organization of the future. The
model depicts an organization as an open system with various feedback loops from
the environment and highlights the interrelationships between the various
components of a quality and productivity management effort. The concepts are
briefly discussed below, and a significantly more detailed discussion is provided by
DSMC.14

Organizational System

The "organizational system" box in the middle of the model represents the
system in which you exist; it could be an entire company, a division, a plant, a
department, or just your own day-to-day activities. The system has upstream
systems (internal and external suppliers) which provide inputs in the form of labor,
material, capital, energy, and data/information. The system takes these inputs and
converts them into outputs in the form of products or services. Downstream systems
(internal and external customers) then react to those outputs, creating outcomes
(customer satisfaction, readiness, profitability, etc.). Quite often, we do not take the
time to define, in very specific terms, the systems we manage. You cannot begin to
measure or improve quality and productivity until you do this.

Incentive and Strategies for Change

At the top of the diagram is the new competition the organization must respond
to in order to compete in a global economy. This new competition and global economy
influence our business strategy and our visions of the organization of the future. We
then assess our present organizational performance and use this data as a foundation
for developing plans for performance improvement. Key performance indicators are
identified to provide feedback on our progress.

14Qualityand Productivity Management Practiceson Defense Programs. Ibid.

A-5
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

New competition in
a global economy

BsnsstaeyVisions of organization__________

Performance improvement interventions:

tactics and techniques

A-
QfIG QQ4
IM MODE

4 - Org~~~aainl6ytm
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

The following steps are included in an effective strategic planning process:

" Developing a collective strategic awareness among the management team
* Converting that awareness into specific planning assumptions
* Creating a set of agreed-upon, prioritized strategic objectives
* Focusing those objectives into a series of action items
* Determining who will be accountable and responsible for each action item
and developing teams to take action
* Measuring, assessing, and evaluating the effectiveness of improvement
actions
* Continuously supporting the improvement effort.

Performance Improvement Methodology and Techniques

Out of the performance-improvement planning process comes specific

performance-improvement interventions, tactics, and techniques. Note that these
interventions are happening at five checkpoints: upstream systems, inputs, process,
outputs, and downstream systems. Quality management efforts must be defined
relative to these five checkpoints. In effect, TQM is the commitment to a practice of
managing all five quality checkpoints. Your management team then develops,
through the performance-improvement planning process, a balanced attack to
improve total system performance, not just system subcomponents.

A number of tools and techniques are available to improve quality and

productivity. A major shortcoming of many improvement efforts is that improvement
is approached like a buffet at a restaurant - we pick and choose one improvement
technique or another with no grand strategy to guide us. Long-term, effective quality
and productivity improvement requires the use of many different approaches, tactics,
tools, and techniques in a comprehensive and integrated manner.

Measurement and Evaluation

After you make interventions to the system, you must then measure, assess,
and analyze performance at the five checkpoints to assess whether the expected
impact actually occurred. Based on this data, you may make an evaluation relative
to your business strategy, your environment (both internal and external), your
vision, your plan, and your improvement actions themselves. Note that the process of

A-7
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

evaluation is separate from the process of measurement. In addition, measurement

supports improvement as its primary objective. The organizational system or unit of
analysis being measured must be precisely defined in order to avoid confusion. A
number of measurement and evaluation techniques may be used in this regard.

If your organization has an effective, high-quality management process in the

areas of planning, measurement and evaluation, and control and improvement, it
will achieve its vision of the future and its desired outcomes over the long term. An
integrated approach to continuous improvement is essential to this achievement.

DSMC/ATI Performance-Improvement Model

The DSMC/ATI Performance-Improvement Model, shown in Figure A-2, is

primarily an improvement-project-creation model. It has seven steps that begin with
establishing a TQM cultural environment and result in implementing a continuous
cycle of improvement projects aimed at improving organizational performance. Each
step is briefly described below and a more detailed discussion of the presented model
is provided by DSMC.15

Step 1: Establish the TQM Management and Cultural Environment

The TQM process is a total organizational approach toward continuous

improvement of products and services. It requires management to exercise the
leadership to establish the conditions for the process to flourish. Management must
create a new, more flexible environment and culture which will encourage and accept
change. The new culture is developed and operated so that all the people, working
together, can use their talents to contribute to the organization's objective of
excellence. Management must accept the primary responsibility itself and
understand the prolonged gestation period before the new systems become alive and
productive.

Management is responsible for the following activities:

" Providing the vision for what the organization wants to be and where it
wants to go
* Demonstrating a long-term commitment to implement improvement

15 Quality andProductivity Management Practiceson Defense Programs. Ibid.

A-8
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

Step 1
Establish the TQM management
and cultural environment
• Vision
• Long-term commitment
0 People involvement
0 Disciplined methodology
* Support system
* Training

Step?2
P Define mission of each component
of the organization

Step 3
Set performance improvement
opportunities, goals, and priorities

EStep44
ablish improvement projects
and action plans

Step 7

Implement projects using

improvement methodologies ,,...:.,......:.'...... M:.....:
.... :

~Step 6

P_ iEvaluate

Improvement performance
" Cycle time
" Lower cost
" Innovation

FIG. A-2. DSMC/ATI PERFORMANCE-IMPROVEMENT MODEL

A.9
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

" Actively involving all people in the improvement process

* Using a disciplined approach to achieve continuous improvement

* Ensuring that an adequate supporting structure is in place

* Making all employees aware of the need for and benefits of TQM, and
training them in the philosophy, practices, tools, and techniques that
support continuous improvement.

Step 2: Define the Mission

The mission of each element of an organization must reflect a perspective such

that, when combined with other elements of the organization, it will provide the
synergy that produces TQM. You should identify your customer(s), their
requirements, your processes, and your products; develop measures of your output
that reflect customer requirements; and review the preceding steps with your
customer and adjust them as necessary. Define your organization's mission with
respect Lo those characteristics.

In developing this mission, all members of the organization must know the
purpose of their jobs, their customer(s), and their relation to others in the
organization for providing customer satisfaction. Everyone has a customer (internal
or external). One objective of TQM is to provide customers with services and products
that consistently meet their needs and expectations. Everyone must know his/her
custorr irs' requirements, and must also make suppliers aware of those and other
relevant requirements.

Soep 3: Set Performance Improvement Goals

Improved performance requires imprnvement goals. Both involve change.

Steps 1 and 2 determine where the organization wants to go, how it is now
performing, and what role each member will play in achieving improved
organizational performance. Step 3 sets the goals for performance improvement.
These goals must reflect an understanding of the organization's process capabilities
so that realistic goals may be set. The goals should first be set at the senior-
management level. They should reflect strategic choices about the critical processes
in which success is essential to organizational survival.

Middle and line management set both functional and process-improvement

goals to achieve the strategic goals set by senior management. This hierarchy of

A-10
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

goals establishes an architecture that links improvement efforts across the

boundaries of the functional organization. Within functional organizations
performance-improvement teams provide cross-functional orientation, and the
employees on those teams become involved in process issues. Thus, the entire
organization is effectively interlinked to form an ideal performance-improvement
culture.

Step 4: Establish Improvement Projects and Action Plans

The initial direction and the initial goals set for continuous-improvement teams
flow down from and are determined by top management. The steering group
performs the following activities:
* Develops the TQM philosophy and vision
* Focuses on critical processes
" Resolves organizational and functional barriers
* Provides resources, training, and rewards
* Establishes criteria for measuring processes and customer requirements.

It charters subordinate Quality Management Boards (QMBs) as owners for each of

the critical processes.

The QMBs conduct system and process analysis, select and train performance-
improvement teams, develop improvement plans, track progress, provide facilitators
to support teams, aim at continuous process improvement, and apply a structured
process improvement methodology. The performance-improvement teams focus on
specific process improvements using the structured improvement methodology.

Step 5: Implement Projects with Performance Tools and Methodologies

Improvement efforts follow a structured improvement methodology. This

methodology requires the improvement team to define its customers and processes,
develop and establish measures for all process components, and assess conformance to
customer needs. Analyzing the process will reveal various improvement
opportunities, some of which will be more valuable or achievable than others.
Opportunities are ranked by priority and improvements effected.

A-1 I
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

The improvement methodology is cyclic and unending. As one opportunity is

pursued and improvements effected, new opportunities are identified and prioritized.
Appropriate performance tools are employed at various points in the process.

Step 6: Evaluate

Measurement is an essential element of the continuous improvement process.

It focuses on the effectiveness of improvement efforts and identifies areas for future
improvement efforts. A basic need in all imp, vement efforts is the ability to
measure the value of the improvement in units -6natare pertinent and meaningful to
the specific task. For example, one evaluation of the "before" and "after" levels of
customer satisfaction following an improvement effort might include the numbers of
customer complaints. You should also evaluate the method of your performance
improvement.

Most organizations have existing measures that may be used "as is" or modified
as necessary. No menu of measurements is applicable to all users. The key is to
select measures that can be used by work units to manage and evaluate their
products and services so that continuous process improvement may be undertaken.

Step 7: Review and Recycle

You must perpetuate the continuous improvement process forever. Approaches

to TQM that have limited lifetimes will become ineffective if left unattended. You
and all your people will need to review progress with respect to improvement efforts
and modify or rejuvenate existing approaches for the next progression of methods.
This constant evolution reinforces the idea that TQM is not a "program" but a new
expectation of day-to-day behavior for each member of the organization.

PMI IQMP Model

"IQMP" in the PMI IQMP model is the acronym for "Improving the Quality of
(the) Management Process(s)." The model has some unique features that set it apart
from all other transformation models. Indeed, many managers, particularly senior
managers long accustomed to the conventional wisdom, feel uncomfortable about

A-1 2
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

IQMP initially. Only after experiencing the benefits of IQMP in action are they
convinced of its merits. The following features of the PMI IQMP model are unique:
" It unabashedly focuses on the organization's need to follow Deming's
14 principles more closely.
* In deference to management's resistance to "theory," it refers to the
14 principles in terms of a "philosophy." However, it clearly sees the
14 principles as postulating a theory of management and constructs
organization-wide experiments specifically designed for managers at all
levels to disprove this theory; disproof, not proof, being the route to gaining
knowledge.
" It recognizes that virtually everyone in the organization prefers to live with
Deming's theory rather than with the unacknowledged and highly varied
theories of their current management - but they are prevented from doing
so by obstacles as yet unidentified and therefore unaddressed. People are
not unwilling nor unready; they are unable.
" It also recognizes that the farther one goes from senior management and the
closer one gets to the actual work of the organization, the quicker people are
to grasp the theory. Therefore, while senior managers must be committed to
the overall thrust of the theory, educated to the point of supporting a critical
mass of managers trying to practice the theory, and given roles that they
and only they can perform, they are not expected to direct the rest of the
organization through the entire transformation; rather, the rest of the
organization is expected, through data-supported experiments, to direct its
senior managers. In effect, the model inverts the organization.
* It incorporates the use of problem-prevention techniques in applying process
controls across the entire organization.
* It is designed under the concept of the expanding ripple, not the big bang.
Thus, most managers, while knowing that the transformation process is
underway and trained to take advantage of the problem-prevention
techniques, will participate directly in the model 2 years or more after the
transformation process has been initiated. The whole organization, of
course, benefits from the experiments.

The PMI IQMP Model is primarily a team-development model. Its overriding

philosophy of continuous improvement is shown in Figure A-3. It has three stages, as
shown in Figure A-4, encompassing a specific process for transformation that starts
with top management and ends with a team structure in place prepared to conduct

A.13
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

experiments in process improvement activity. Each components is briefly described

below. A more detailed discussion is provided by PMI.16

SCustomer

Employees

IQMPLocal
Teams Po icy. of: Steering
no surprises C me

Corporate Steering
Committee

FIG. A-3. STRUCTURE FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

While the model provides management with bottom-up direction, it is developed

and implemented in a top-down manner. Each component will go through transition
from education to training to implementation to a steady state of continuous
improvement. The major activities of each component are described below. The
model integrates the cultural transformation, which takes TQM beyond the
"program of the year" attitude and the methodology for improving work processes
(the technology and tools of continuous improvement).

Corporate Steering Committee I Team

The Corporate Steering Committee (CSC), or Division Steering Committee

(DSC), has the primary responsibility for interpreting the Deming principles/TQM
for the organization. Composed of the top executive, plus his/her staff, the charter for

16
1mproving the Quality of Management Processes (IQMP) Model. Ibid.

A-14
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

the CSC is found in the question: "What do we think Deming's principles/TQM mean
for this organization?"

In addition to the normal tasks of carrying on the work of the organization, the
CSC members research the Deming principles in terms of what Deming means and
what each principle means to the organization. This suggests that each CSC member
gets to know the organization much more intimately than traditional practices might
encourage. It also suggests research into how people work and feel about work as
well as into the reality of corporate policies and practices. CSC members look at how
they need to operate differently and mobilize others in the business unit to offer
recommendations and advice.

During the education stage, the CSC has a major responsibility for
"championing" the principles throughout the organization, ensuring that all
employees recognize that the transformation is real, and modeling the expected new
management behaviors. During the application stage and continuing into the
continuous-improvement stage, the CSC has a responsibility to receive/act on
recommendations from IQMP Groups and Local Steering Committees (LSCs) on
matters of need identified in the organization. It is the job of the executives to
support the organization.

The CSC has 10 major areas of responsibility:

1. Establish awareness of the competitive challenge throughout the
organization.
2. Establish a vision for the future.
3. Establish leadership for the change effort.
4. Establish a process to encourage/support innovation.
5. Establish broad employee involvement in the effort.
6. Establish proper organizational structure for the effort.
7. Establish appropriate technology.
8. Establish plans for the ongoing development of all employees.
9. Establish a plan to guide the process improvement effort.
10. Establish total quality improvement as a way of life in the organization.

A-1 5
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Local Steering Committees I Teams

The LSCs have the primary responsibility for enabling continuous

improvement in the workplace as shown in Figure A-4. Their focus is on day-to-day
implementation of actions to improve work processes. There are normally as many
LSCs as there are independent business units in an organization, and each is
composed of the local facility or regional manager plus his/her staff. (Often, a
corporate or division office becomes an additional LSC to work on improving the work
processes of the office functions.)

The job of the LSCs is to ensure that employees are provided the work tools -
including the statistical process control (SPC) training - they need to do their work;
the LSCs must also respond to the needs that become apparent through the data
gathered by those who do the work. These jobs may require independent
implementation of specific changes (with appropriate communications to other LSCs
in which there might be an application), implementation of CSC and/or IQMP
recommendations, or coordination of actions determined to be jointly useful to several
business units. The charter for the LSCs is found in the following two questions:
"How do we make a difference in the technical work?" and "How do we support
implementation of the IQMP Groups' recommendations?"

It has been found that a "policy of no surprises" is essential to developing trust

between the work groups. This is typically dealt with by encouraging people to talk
informally, as well as by sharing of meeting notes among the various groups and
committees. This kind of structure is not in any way intended to reduce the
importance of "common sense" or good communications. The structure is meant to
enhance and encourage the use of both. When differences of opinion arise, as they
surely do, the focus is placed on the customer needs and the data presented, rather
than on such traditional bases as territoriality, or "Tmthe boss, that's why." Helping
people to find ways to resolve differences constructively is perhaps another good
reason for working through the transformation process with a consultant. The LSC
has several areas of responsibility:

$ Leading the tactical changes in the management process

a Examining the "operational definitions" of Dr. Deming's 14 points for any

variance that may be required at the local site

A-16
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

Corporate Steering IQMP Local Steering Employee Supplier Customer

Committee Groups Committees resources resouce resources

Enabling ForouQp

Supporting

F O
E T
E
DecsincDcuen
Meetin O
MP
Note:
PDC scripnionsc- rinehatcyles
ptCcl C S
R
N
EM
A
A
CA-1
F'.on
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

0 Clarifying mission statement at local level to ensure it is in concert with the

new philosophy
* Discussing the impact of the 14 principles in managing their organization

* Defining customer expectations

* Identifying early improvement potential.

IQMP Teams

The IQMP Teams have the primary responsibility of improving the quality of
management in the organization as shown in Figure A-5. Composed of a "lateral
slice" of the organization, primarily from the ranks of management but not
necessarily limited to managers, the IQMP Teams must actively seek out obstacles to
Deming's 14 principles and find ways to remove the obstacles by making
improvement recommendations.

Normally composed of several working subgroups, based upon focus on related

groups of principles, the charter for the IQMP Teams is inherent in the question:
"How do vie make a difference in the management work?" IQMP Team members
work closely with individual principle champiors from the CSC, as well as
representing a cross-section of the organization's management, naturally working
closely with those on the Local/Regional Steering Committees.

Members of IQMP normally serve 1-2-year terms, so that new ideas are
introduced regularly, but a sense of continuity is preserved in that not all members
are new to the task each year. The IQMP Teams:
* Are established after the top management team/committee is comfortable
with its work relative to mission and strategic direction
* Are chartered to identify the obstacles that prevent the organization from
following Deming's principles more closely and to make specific
recommendations directly to senior management on how to reduce those
obstacles

* Define and diagnose progress

" Ensure a policy of no surprises by working with the DSC and the LSC when
appropriate
* May identify potential improvement projects for any part of the
organization.

A-18
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

Corporate Steering Local Steering Process- Employee Supplier Custom er

Committee Commitee improvement team resources resources resources

Enabling lead SPCtraining Tra.n..g

EsalihL s IdSeneti processes..........

//
Em powering

Studyprcse

0 ~Im
proveCments

cmMake

Miaake

recommendation

Supporting
¢ wh[ H Use revisd Support revised

Determine how Revise process process process

' to support . ,,--

Note: LST = Local Steering Team; PIT = process-im provement team

FIG. A-5. WORK FLOW FOR PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

A-19
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

The PMI IQMP Model directly addresses management processes - or, rather,
the lack of them. As previously stated, it focuses on Deming's 14 principles with the
intention of trying to disprove Deming's theory for management. It was also stated
that the PMI IQMP Model complements the use of problem-prevention techniques
across the entire organization. While IQMP incorporates the same techniques, the
application of these techniques in functional and operational processes is not part of
the PM! IQMP Model as such. However, this complementary work on process
improvement is being done alongside the management work addressed by the PMI
IQMP Model. If the management work is not addressed, th2n the functional and
operational processes will not be continuously improved.

Project Teams

Work process improvements are undertaken by project-oriented process-

improvement teams formed by LSCs. These project teams
" Will lead the operational change in the management process
" Are voluntary
* Will study specific issues using appropriate SPC technology and problem-
solving methods
* Will make recommendations to the appropriate steering committee
* Will keep nonteam members informed
* Will work with Plant Steering Committee on implementation issues
* Will dissolve at the appropriate time.

Strean. of Activity Model

The Joiner Associates' Streams of Activity Model, shown in Figure A-6,

characterizes the ongoing activities and emphases necessary to achieve continuous
improvement in an organization. It presents activities that pervade every
organizational function and addresses the underlying elements that must be present
for a successful improvement effort: supporting environment; a quality management
approach to key activities and their review; a cadre of internal improvement experts;
and a supportive, capable education and training community. The streams of activity
are parallel and unending; they proceed independently but are interdependent.

A-20
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

There is no temporal relationship between the streams - you pursue them

simultaneously.

1. Support culture, climate, and environment

2. Improve performance through quality management

Continuous
3. Review through quality management improvement

4. Develop internal resources

5. Build education and training community

FIG. A-6. JOINER ASSOCIATES' STREAMS OF ACTIVITY MODEL

Stream 1: Assess and Develop the Culture, Climate, and Environment to

Support and Sustain ContinuousImprovement

This stream addresses the operational definition and deployment of

Dr. Deming's 14 points into the organization and the development of a process
involving lower levels of the organization. Activities in this stream include asking
yourself about each of the 14 points: Why are they important? What do they
accomplish? You must define for yourself an ideal picture of your organization and
then define where your organization is now. Each level of your organization must
ultimately be involved in this process, relating the 14 points to their objectives and
their understanding of their organizational role. You must pursue actions to deploy
the 14 points and their objectives throughout your organization.

A-21
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Stream 2: Apply the Quality Management Approach to the Way You Carry
Out Improvements and Other Key Activities

The second stream reminds you that you should apply quality management
principles, practices, and techniques not only to your improvement activities but to
everything you do within your organization. To do this you must establish a
systematic approach that involves management and ensures management priorities
are reflected by improvements and other key efforts. Existing work groups are
focused by their management and work to achieve local priorities. You should ensure
a quality management approach is applied to each new initiative you undertake.

Stream 3: Apply the QualityManagement Approach to the Way You Review

Improvement Activitiesand Other Key Aspects ofthe Business

Reviewing and evaluating progress is as important as undertaking new

improvements or other initiatives. Not only should you adopt a quality management
approach to every aspect of your business, you should also apply this approach to
reviewing improvement efforts and to reviewing progress in all other areas as well.
Ensure statistics and data support your reviews, and that you use the data in
evaluating improvement efforts and other everyday business issues. Use these
evaluations to identify needed changes in management emphasis and approach, and
to support and enable more rapid improvement and achievement of organizational
goals.

Stream 4: Identify and Develop a Cadre ofInternal Resources with In-Depth

Knowledge and Skills

To enable the flow of the first three streams of activity, you should identify and
develop people within your organization who will become your internal experts in
quality management and improvement philosophy, practices, and techniques. This
effort includes identifying capable individuals, educating and training them, and
establishing their new positions along with a career path and opportunities. You
then can use these people to help you in your improvement efforts and also in
applying quality management methods to key business issues.

Stream 5: Build an Education and Training Community That Can Drive New
Knowledge into the Organization

Underlying the other four streams of activity is a continual, strong current of

learning which supports and nourishes the continuous-improvement effort. This

A-22
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

stream of activity provides the new knowledge necessary to undertake

improvements, to apply quality management to everyday business practices, and to
increase the capability of individuals to do their jobs. You must identify your
education and training community and develop processes and systems for addressing
the organization's learning needs and reviewing your effectiveness in meeting those
needs. This includes determining who to educate, when, and to what extent in which
subjects.

LMI CIP Transformation Model

The LMI CIP Transformation Model, shown in Figure A-7, is a transformation

model that focuses on the organizational and behavioral changes needed to instill and
sustain a culture of continuous improvement in your organization. The organization
develops a unified, consistent vision of its goals and objectives, and achieves that
vision by providing the leadership and resources necessary to implement TQM as
well as eliminating barriers to TQM implementation. Broad goals are focused down
through all the organization's layers, and improvement practices follow a structured,
disciplined methodology. Training and team building have fundamental supporting
roles throughout the LMI CIP Transformation Model, as people and groups in the
organization must be trained in appropriate subjects at appropriate times, and
groups must learn to function as teams. The ultimate objective is to establish a
perpetual and total commitment to quality throughout the organization and to
involve everyone. TQM should become the organization's way of life.

Envisioning

Envisioning, illustrated in Figure A-8, is a process that includes developing

your organization's overall mission and goals and, within the context of that overall
mission, building individual and group awareness of TQM objectives, philosophy,
principles, and practices. Your organization should document its mission and
establish the constancy of purpose essential to a successful TQM effort. Creating a
customer focus is a key element of improving your organization's effectiveness. Each
individual must demonstrate belief in the organization's mission and ownership of its
vision. An Executive Steering Committee (ESC), led by the head of your
organization, guides and leads the overall TQM effort, which becomes integrated into
your organization's way of doing business. The ESC is also instrumental in enabling
the achievement of the mission.

A-23
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Envision 'Enable ,Focus Improve

I Learning and team building

FIG. A-7. LMI CIP TRANSFORMATION MODEL

Develop Build Evolve Executive

TQ vision awarenemission
statement Steering
Committee

* Understand need 0 Provide training e Establish constancy 9 Chief executive

" Assess internal 0 Use external of purpose officer and
business strategy consultants * Make long-term immediate
* Address externa, a Proselytize organizational subordinates
pressures 0 Demonstrate belief commitment * Lead TOM effort
* Understand o Relate TOM 0 Enabie achievement
continuous process principles to of TOM vision
improvement organization
e Create a customer
focus

FIG. A-8. ENVISIONING

A-24
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

Enabling

Enabling, depicted in Figure A-9, is the process by which you make it possible
for your organization to implement TQM principles and practices. It includes
individual and organizational efforts to create an environment that will support and
nurture the TQM effort. Top management must become committed to the TQM
implementation and must demonstrate that commitment; highly visible and vocal
champions can help publicize that commitment. You and every other leader must
work to remove barriers to TQM and to establish support, reward, and recognition
systems that encourage TQM behavior and drive out the inherent fear of change.
Training and time resources, both for yourself and those who work for you, are
essential. Finally, your organization must empower individuals and groups at all
levels by providing them the authority necessary to meet their responsibility for
process improvement.

Develop
top Shape the Empower
manage- environ-Provide the
meat ment resources organiza-
commit- mettion

ment

* Demonstrate * Establish support * Make training * Involve everyone

leadership systems available * Provide authority
* Cultivate champions 0 Remove barriers * Make time available commensurate with
" Work from the top e Reassess reward and 0 Organize to support responsibility
down recognition systems improvement * Focus the effort to
9 Drive out fear * Obtain facilitators achieve the vision

FIG. A-9. ENABLING

Focusing

Focusing the improvement effort, as shown in Figure A-10, turns the

philosophy and the broad goals into specific objectives and plans for improvement.
These goals, objectives, and plans are communicated throughout your organization.
Your effort to focus TQM implementation must ensure that your organization
establishes broad, top-level goals and then aligns all improvement efforts with those
goals. Policy deployment translates broad goals into more specific, relevant goals at
each organizational level. Goals at all levels must be realistic, achievable, relevant
to both the group and the individual, and consistent. Involving customers and

A-25
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

suppliers ensures that common concerns are addressed; that you, your customers, and
your suppliers understand each other's needs; and that information is exchanged in a
timely and meaningful manner.

s hDeploInvolve
Establish goals and cuand
goals P, policy and

" Base on customer focus and * Focus goals at each * Understand needs
mission organizational level * Communicate requirements
* Ensure broad applicability * Translate goals into practice * Address common issues
and realistic nature 9 Align improvement efforts * Share experience
* Communicate goals with organizational goals
throughout organization
" Make goals relevant to each
individual

FIG. A-10. FOCUSING

Improving

Improving your processes, illustrated in Figure A-11, is the result of

envisioning a new way of doing business, enabling that vision, and focusing the effort
to achieve specific goals and objectives. Your organization's improvement activities
include many of the more mechanical processes to define and standardize processes,
to assess performance, and to improve your processes. Performance and progress
measurement are a critical element throughout the continuous improvement process.
The overriding characteristic of the improvement process is the establishment of and
adherence to a structured, disciplined process-improvement methodology that allows
you to take maximum advantage of your individual and collective experience and
energy and to institutionalize that advantage for the good of the organization.

Learning

Learning, as shown in Figure A-12, is one of the fundamental elements

supporting your TQM effort. It comprises training and education. In brief, your
learning objective should be to provide each individual and group exactly the right
amount of the correct education and training at just the right time. Doing this
requires you to identify your projected needs from awareness through specific
technical skills. You must also determine how the education and training will be

A-26
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

Define and Assess Improve Measure

process pro e progre
standardize
perfor- processes progress
processes
mance

* Document current * Measure process 0 Use teams for shared * Measure process
understanding * Assess performance processes performance against
* Maintain and update against goals and * Pursue individual goals and standards
formal standards customer needs improvement 0 Evaluate customer
* Measure performance e Select improvement 0 Follow improvement satisfaction
against current targets cycle 0 Evaluate method and
standard document results
0 Continuously improve

FIG. A-11. IMPROVING

delivered - in a classroom, on the job, or through self-study - and obtain the

necessary materials and resources. You should plan learning so that each person and
group will be able to use that new knowledge almost immediately after it is acquired.
If the learning is not used right away, most people will forget it rather quickly and
you will have wasted this valuable resource. Learning is necessary through each of
the four phases of the LM.I CIP Transformation Model, in different amounts of
different subjects at different times for different people.

Train and
Identify Obtain Develop educate
learning learning learning groups and
needs materials methods individuals
just in time

" Evaluate TQM goals 0 Assess learning 0 Define group and * Create opportunities
* Assess related material availability individual learning to use new learning
knowledge shortfalls 0 Purchase material opportunit,es or skills
* Prioritize learning available from other 0 Integrate on-the-job * Maximize
needs snurces training with routine effectiveness of
* Develop original job performance learning resources
* Address TQM
awareness organization-specific 0 Use self-study and 0 Focus learning for
material classroom education specific activities
where appropriate

FIG. A-12. LEARNING

A-27
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Team Building

Team building, depicted in Figure A-13, is the other fundamental element that
will support your TQM effort. TQM will gain much of its power and momentum
through the formation and activity of teams at all levels in your organization. You
should form teams according to your overall organizational goals and ensure that
teams have the necessary training and time resources to work effectively. Team
building begins with the establishment of the ESC and continues through all levels to
the bottom of the organization. In many cases team building simply means training
existing work groups to act as teams; in other situations you may address common
problems and concerns through creating cross-functional teams, sometimes
coordinated by QMBs, that will draw participants from all interested areas. All
teams should be linked, horizontally and vertically, and should follow the structured
process-improvement cycle within the framework of the common organizational
goals.

Pursue
Form teams Integrate Form cross- process-
natural Funcoa- proe-
in
accordance work functional improve-
teams ment
with goals groups activities

* Form teams from the 0 Have existing groups 9 Coordinate through * Train teams as
top down work as teams ESC and QMBs necessary
" Ensure teams have * Link teams vertically 9 Address areas of * Provide facilitators
clear objectives above and below common interest 0 Work the process-
" Focus on high- * Deploy policy 0 Draw participants improvement cycle
priority or high- between teams from all interested
payback areas areas
0 Work within
framework of
common goals

FIG. A-13. TEAM BUILDING

A-28
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

PROCESS-IMPROVEMENT MODELS

Moen and Nolan Strategy for Process Improvement

The Moen and Nolan Strategy for Process Improvement, shown in Figure A-14,
is an 11-step strategy centered on the classic Shewhart or Plan-Do-Check-Act
(PDCA) improvement cycle as are the remaining two process-improvement models.
Its 11 steps start with selecting a process to improve and result in implementing a
continuous-improvement cycle operating on the process. The model looks at an
organization as a network of linked processes run by internal producers and
customers. The ultimate output of the network is the product or service provided to
an external customer. Each step of the model is briefly described below. 17

Step 1: Determine Team Objective

You should identify a process that will have the greatest effect on improving
customer satisfaction. The team chosen to work on improving a process should
include people working in the process, people in authority to change the process,
upstream suppliers, downstream customers, and related experts. The team must
start off with a clear statement of the objective they hope to achieve. Each member of
the team should see the accomplishment of this objective as important and worth
working for.

Step 2: Describe the Process

Once the team has determined and agreed upon its objective, it should describe
and document the process it intends to improve. The documentation should identify
all process stages, inputs, and outputs. Complete documentation will identify all
process suppliers and customers as well and will attempt to define customer needs
and requirements.

Step 3: Flow Chart the Process

One key element of describing a process is creating a flow chart that documents
the important stages in the process and identifies relationships between suppliers
and customers. The flow chart demonstrates visually the flow of the process over

17A more-detailed discussion is provided in Moen, Ronald D. Ibid.

A-29
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Selection
of process
Objective of team

Description of process involved

I

Current Flow chart the process

knowledge
of process Identify supplier/customer relationships

Identify measures of performance (outcomes)

Develop possible cause factors

Document what was learned

Improvement cycle

needr revision? phs

the process * Nan change or test
pChange
* Plan data collection

Synthesis Observation
" Compare data to and analysis
theory 0 Carry out the change
* Summarize what or test
was learned 0 Observe the data
* Analyze the data

FIG. A-14. MOEN AND NOLAN STRATEGY FOR PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

A-30
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

time. Flow charts work best when simple, including only enough detail to give a
basic understanding of what is happening.

Step 4: Identify SupplierI Customer Relationships

Quality and productivity are improved as producers work in teams with their
suppliers (internal and external) to improve internal customer satisfaction and hence
external customer satisfaction. Suppliers' targets serve as surrogates for customer
needs. Each customer becomes the supplier for subsequent needs. Customer and
process feedback provide a basis for the improvement action and for measuring
subsequent performance.

Step 5: Identify Measures of Performance

Once the team agrees on the flow of the process, it must identify basic measures
of performance for the outcome of each stage. These measures are identified as
checkpoints on the flow chart. Each measure must be clearly defined as to what is
specifically being measured and more importantly what those measures mean.
Identifying performance measures creates windows through which you can observe
your processes. If those windows do not provide predictable, consistent views of the
processes, you will not be able to make intelligent decisions about how to improve the
process.

Step 6: Develop Possible Cause Factors

Measurements provide key indications of process performance problems and

their causes. You can use a number of tools to keep track of and assess these possible
cause factors, which will identify opportunities for improvement.

Step 7: Document What Was Learned

Strict, consistent documentation is essential to maintaining control over the

improvement process. Once improvements have been implemented, you must be able
to maintain a history of the entire improvement effort. This history serves to provide
lessons which might be applied to others in your organization and also will leave you
a data trail with which you may analyze the success or failure of your improvement
efforts.

A-31
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Step 8: Plan

Once a project has been selected, the theory phase of the planning step begins.
Theory may range from a hunch or "gut feeling" to well-accepted scientific principles
at various times throughout the cycle. The next phase is to plan data collection. Data
will be used to increase process knowledge and will help establish a consensus among
team members. The questions to be answered by the data will guide the data
collection process.

Step 9: Observe and Analyze

The observation phase begins when the plan for data collection is put in place.
The data should be observed as soon as they become available. Any data collection
process has many opportunities for error and many opportunities for special causes to
occur. Plotting the data chronologically as they are obtained is vital for recognizing
problems.

Once the data are obtained, they are analyzed to help answer the questions
posed in the theory phase. In preparing for this analysis the team should determine
the resources needed. Most data from well-planned studies can be analyzed using
simple graphical methods, but there may be occasions when computers are needed.
Most teams should quickly learn to use simple tools to collect and display their data.
They will usually be able to analyze their own data, but there will be times when help
from a statistician or other expert is needed.

Step 10: Synthesize

This phase brings together the results of the data analysis and the existing
knowledge of the process. The theory is modified if the data contradict certain beliefs
about the process. If the data confirm the existing theory about the process, then the
team will be confident that the theory provides sufficient basis for action on the
process.

Step 11: Act

Do we make a change in the process or go through the cycle without making a

change? If a change is made, will it affect people? What other impact would a change
in the process have? These questions and others may be answered by the data
collected during the improvement cycle and subsequent analysis. Depending on the

A-32
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

answers, process modification may or may not be in order. There is no unique route to
problem solving. Agreement on the suitability of improvement action is obtained by
repeating the improvement cycle; it is the repeated use of the cycle that is important.

NPRDC TQM Process-Improvement Model

The NPRDC TQM Process-Improvement Model shown in Figure A-15 is also a

PDCA-based model. It begins by stating a goal for improving a process and proceeds
through institutionalizing successful process changes in documented process
18
standards. Each step is briefly described below.

Step 1: Plan

During the Plan phase you select the process you wish to improve and you state
your goals for that process. Defining those broad goals further, however, requires you
to describe your process flow by charting the flow itself, documenting your current
understanding of how the process functions, defining the customers of the process,
and understanding customer needs and requirements. Once you understand the
process, you should make your improvement goals more specific, defining actual
desired changes in process outcomes. These changes should be realistic, achievable,
and measurable.

Step 2: Do

The Do phase is where you emplace the structure that will enable you to
improve your process. You should identify the elements of your process, both internal
and external, that potentially have an effect on the quality of your process and its
products. To verify your theoretical causes of quality, you need to identify measures
of your process's performance. In defining measurement points, ensure that they are
specific, repetitive, and consistent. Before obtaining measurement data you should
establish clear, concise data collection procedures to ensure that data are collected
periodically and consistently.

Step 3: Check

You need to Check its performance to ensure that you accurately understand
your process and more importantly to improve that process. Collecting and analyzing

18More-detailed information is provided in Dockstader, S. L. Ibid.

A-33
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

State goald
S

Describe process
flow

Define desired
changes in outcomes

Identify potential
r causes of quality

Plan
Identify process
Domeasures

Establish data
collection procedures

I Collect and analyze

data

heck Do Determine types of

process causes

Seccue Take action on

Oeve~~opchangeso i special causs

Act PlanDeeochnsfr

causes"
eckcommon

Implement on trialC
basisI

Ineffective Effective Continue cycle

FIG. A-15. NPRDC TQM PROCESS-IMPROVEMENT MODEL

A-34
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

data is your primary tool for doing this. Data collection must be focused and
consistent, performed in accordance with the procedures you established in the Do
phase. You should analyze your data aggressively and thoroughly, looking to confirm
your initial hypotheses or to identify new causes of performance problems. You
should look for two types of problem causes - special and common causes. Special
causes are those sources of variation or problem performance that are not endemic in
the system itself but rather are the result of a specific error in process input or process
operation. Common causes, on the other hand, are those that arise from the system
itself and influence overall performance in a statistically predictable fashion.

Step 4: Act

Finally, it is time to Act. In this phase, you select the causes you want to
change, taking one-time action on special causes, and developing remedial changes
for common causes. You should implement both types of actions on a trial basis,
evaluating their effects. For ineffective changes, you may have to go back and
identify new causes of poor quality or causes of performance problems. You should
document effective changes and build them into the normal way of performing the
process. This usually entails the modification of existing process standards. Finally,
you must set in place a means of monitoring process performance over the long term
and ensuring both that your changes continue to have their desired effect and that
people are performing the process according to the new standard. The process-
improvement cycle continues forever, without end.

FPL Improvement Opportunity Process Model

The FPL Improvement Opportunity Process Model, shown in Figure A-16, is a

seven-step process which follows the fundamental logic of the PDCA cycle. It
provides a structured way for teams to identify improvement opportunities and solve
problems. It begins with identifying opportunities for improvement and ends with
tracking the effectiveness of implemented solutions. Each step is briefly described
below. 19

19 More-detailed information is provided in FPL Quality Improvement Team Guidebook, Ibid.

A-35
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

STEP
Critical Activity Chart
1.Collect ..
Improvement
Opportunities

Graph Pareto Chart

2. Prioritize & Select T
Improvement
Opportunities .

Fishbone Diagram Pareto Chart

3. Analyze
Root Causes ,

Solution Selection Matrix Barriers and Aids

4. Select Solution --

Trial Implementation Pareto Chart Graph

5. Conduct Trial Checklst
Implementation

Implementation Checklist

6. Implement Solution _',

Graph

7.Track
Effectiveness /

FIG. A.16. FPL IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITY PROCESS MODEL

A-36
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

Step 1: Collect Improvement Opportunities

Before beginning the improvement effort, you should identify the most
promising opportunities for improvement. This requires collecting all possible
improvement opportunities. Through suggestion programs, critical activity charts,
brainstorming, and thorough interviewing, you may identify a number of
opportunities for improvement Ideas may also be generated by current
organizational performance or by policy deployment plans that lay out organizational
goals and objectives.

Step 2: Prioritize and Select Improvement Opportunities

Once improvement opportunities have been identified, their priorities must be

established so that the opportunity with the greatest potential for improvement or
the largest potential benefit is selected. Key considerations in prioritizing and
selecting problems include how the problems relate to daily work; their potential
impact internally and on your customers; and the demonstrated need for
improvement. You should write clear problem statements, establish valid
requirements, and develop a desired goal. You may select from a number of
statistical and group interaction techniques in selecting problems for improvement.

Step 3: Analyze Root Causes

Selecting your problem is only the beginning of the improvement effort.

Identifying and verifying the most significant root cause(s) of the problem is the next
key step in addressing it. Root causes will point to the improvements you will make
in your process. You should keep asking why things happen and ensure you are
identifying causes instead of symptoms. Once you have identified a number of
causes, you narrow them down to the most significant ones, which you analyze using
quality control tools.

Step 4: Select Solution

Root causes will themselves suggest different means of resolving your problem.
In addition to the obvious solutions, however, you and your team should pursue less-
evident solutions that may be even more suitable. You should also attempt to select
solutions that address as many root causes as possible. Other things to consider
include how the solutions will affect your customers and the people actually working

A-%37
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

with the affected process, whether or not the team can actually implement the
solution, and the resources needed to accomplish the improvement.

Step 5: Conduct Trial Implementation

After selecting its preferred solution, your team should plan and conduct a trial
implementation. You will need to develop an action plan that addresses all aspects of
the proposed change and assign responsibility for individual action items. The
planning activity includes notifying and obtaining approval from appropriate
management personnel. You should ensure a methodical approach to your trial so
that improved performance is clearly documented and may be used to justify making
the improvement permanent.

Step 6: Implement Solution

Once a trial implementation proves the viability of your chosen solution, you
should quickly move to ensure the solution becomes part of your daily work process
and that it is properly documented. Presentations to management may be
appropriate, using the results of the trial implementation to justify final approval.
You should put together a quality improvement story that traces the improvement
from its initial identification and justification to its actual performance. Finally, you
will have to modify procedures and standards to ensure your solution is made
permanent.

Step 7: Track Effectiveness

Implementing the solution is near the end of the improvement cycle, but you
must continue monitoring the solution to ensure it remains effective. The team may
assign individuals to follow up on the improvement periodically. Any discrepancies
or degradations in performance should be immediately addressed by the team as part
of the ongoing quality improvement effort. Tracking the effectiveness of
improvement efforts should as much as possible be part of ongoing measurement and
evaluation efforts.

Joiner Associates' Model of Progress

The Joiner Associates Model of Progress, shown in Figure A-17, is a six-step

process that includes an additional five-stage plan for process improvement. The
overall model shows the general progression of events in project teams. It begins by

A-38
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

establishing a clear goal based on the organization's mission statement and proceeds
through evaluation and management recognition of completed team improvement
projects. Each step is briefly described below. 2 0

Model of progress

Clarify goals build the the process dek appropriate Cl

te..m prEre actioo

Five-stage plan for process improvement

FIG. A-l. JOINER ASSOIATES' MODEL OF PROGRESS

Model of Progress

Step 1: Clarify Goals. Before the team is even completely constructed, team
members begin discussing their mission. They should understand what it means to
be on the team, what process they will work on, and what kinds of improvements are
expected. From these goals and expectations they will draft an improvement plan
that will guide all subsequent team activities.

Step 2: Educate and Build the Team. The first few team meetings are typically
devoted largely to team building and education. Team building includes setting the
ground rules for team interaction and the logistics for the team's operation. The team
should discuss its particular quality issues. The team proceeds with general
discussion of the overall quality philosophy and education and training in specific
quality improvement tools and techniques. In addition to developing the technical

2 OMore-detailed information is provided in Scholtes, Peter R. Ibid.

A.39
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

expertise necessary to improve its processes, the team must take ownership of the
process and perceive that process improvement is important.

Step 3: Investigate the Process. After team members have been exposed to
quality and scientific principles, and have been trained in technical improvement
methods, they are ready to begin work in earnest on the process. They begin by
studying the process to learn more about how it operates and to identify problems.
Process investigation includes documenting the process by using flow charts and
diagrams, identifying and communicating with customers, and collecting process
data. Process data yield clues to root causes of the problems, which point to
additional data needs.

Step 4: Analyze Data and Seek Solutions. Once you collect the necessary data,
your team should analyze them to identify possible causes of problems and then
determine which of those possible causes are actually root causes. The five-stage
plan for process improvement, described below, helps the team analyze root causes
and develop appropriate, permanent solutions to the problems.

Step 5: Take Appropriate Action. Once potential solutions have been

identified, you should develop a strategic plan to test the proposed solutions.
Implementing the test involves gathering data on the changed process, analyzing
that data, and redesigning the improvements if necessary. The results of the changes
must be continually monitored, not only during the testing period but permanently.
You should establish a system with which to monitor improvements as part of the
normal way of doing business.

Step 6: Closure. Closure involves presenting the improvement project to

management and other interested people in your organization. It is a means of
allowing others to take advantage of your lessons learned and of providing your team
recognition for their efforts. During closure you will also evaluate the results of your
team's improvement effort and your team's performance during that effort. Finally,
you should complete documentation of your project.

Plan for Process Improvement

Stage 1: Understand the Process. Before your team can make improvements,
each member must thoroughly understand the process. To really know what is right
and what is wrong with a process, you must answer three questions: How does the

A-40
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

process currently work? What is it supposed to accomplish? What is the current best-
known way to carry out the process? Investigating these questions is the best way for
your team to gather information that will let you set goals and objectives for the rest
of the improvement project. Understanding a process is achieved through describing
the process, identifying customer needs and concerns, and developing a standard
process.

Stage 2: Eliminate Errors. Everyone makes mistakes. Yet we fail to realize

that many mistakes can be prevented by making simple changes to a process. For
instance, if people forget to fill in a certain blank on a form or to add the right number
of components to a kit, make changes that either highlight the needed step or stop the
process until a step is completed. Through actions such as these you will be able to
"error-proof' your processes.

Stage 3: Remove Slack. Increasing numbers of organizations are realizing that

traditional practices of keeping huge inventories and doing work in large batches are
more harmful than helpful. These now-standard practices mask problems instead of
solving them. In addition, processes tend to grow over the years, many steps losing
whatever value they once had.

To get out of this trap, move toward "just-in-time" flow and examine each step
to see if it is necessary and adds value to the product or service. The result of this
critical examination is often dramatically reduced time required to complete a
process. The resulting improvements usually increase quality, too.

Stage 4: Reduce Variation. The sources of variation come from both common
and special causes; the key is to tell them apart. Common causes typically come from
numerous, ever-present sources of slight variation. Special causes, in contrast, are
not always present, and usually create greater fluctuations in the process.
Eliminating common causes requires fundamental changes in how a process is
performed; special causes can often be taken care of through relatively simple
changes. You should first focus on reducing sources of variation on your
measurement processes and bringing those processes under control and then
performing the same sequence on your targeted processes.

Stage 5: Plan for Continuous Improvement. By this stage, the most obvious
sources of problems will have been eliminated from the process. Now your team must
look for ways to make improvement a constant, never-ending part of the process and

A-41
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

your jobs. Ongoing training and education in areas related to the process and
instruction in the skills associated with statistical tools are critical. Before bringing
the project to a close, discuss ways to keep the improvement philosophy alive. Keep
records about the process and procedures up to date; make sure they are used.

LMI CIP Process-Improvement Model

The LMI CIP Process-Improvement Model, shown in Figure A-18, incorporates

the PDCA approach but also addresses the need to standardize processes and
maintain comprehensive, up-to-date process standards. It begins with the activities
needed to create an environment conducive to continuous process improvement,
follows that with selecting and improving a process, and finally assesses the level of
performance improvement; the model then cycles around to focus on another process-
improvement effort. This model flows logically from the LMI CIP Transformation
21
Model (see Figure A-7). Each step is briefly described below.

Step 1: Set the Stage for Process Improvement

At the organizational level, setting the stage for process improvement involves
everything your organization does to become aware of the need for improvement and
to establish a commitment to continuous improvement. It includes basic education
and training, goal setting, barrier reduction, and leadership. Setting the stage
means your organization must create an environment in which process improvement
activities are encouraged and nourished. Your organization must have a clear vision
of what it wants to accomplish and where it wants to go, and it must lay in place
support systems to help the improvement effort.

At the team and the individual levels, setting the stage involves selecting and
educating the team or individuals, and training them in the specific concepLs, tools,
and techniques they will require for the contemplated improvement effort. They
should determine how they will function in the overall organizational environment
and ensure that all individuals have enlisted themselves in the accomplishment of
their perceived mission.

21The model is discussed in more detail in Mansir, Brian E. Ibid.

A-42
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

From LMI CIP Transformation Model

Set the stage I

for process
improvement

Select a
process
to improve

Define
the
process

Standardize
the process

Improve A S
another Act Standardize
process

C D
Check Do

Pursue
a strategy
Tighten for further
up the improvement
process

Improve
the process

A P
Act plan

C D
Check Do

Assess
improvement
performance

FIG. A-18. LMI CIP PROCESS-IMPROVEMENT MODEL

A-43
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Step 2: Select a Process to Improve

Your team must identify, from all the potential candidates and in conjunction
with organizational and team objectives, one process on which they will focus for each
pass through the improvement cycle. Selecting the improvement target involves
identifying all the potential opportunities, prioritizing them, and choosing the
process that currently presents the biggest problem or the greatest opportunity for
improvement. Once selected, the team must identify the major problems and isolate
their root causes. From this background work, the team may create a plan for
improvement that builds on the team's objectives. Identifying measurement points is
also necessary before beginning the process improvement effort.

Step 3: Define the Process

Once a process has been targeted for improvement, you should define that
process as clearly and completely as possible. Process definition involves
determining the customers (both internal and external) and the suppliers of the
process, documenting how the process is currently performed (usually through using
a flow chart or diagram), and identifying measures of process performance.
Documentation should be formal and consistent among all organizational processes.
A firm process definition provides you a consistent base from which to begin process
improvement; without knowing where you are at a given moment, it is hard to
determine how to get to your destination.

Step 4: Standardize the Process

By standardizing a process, you institutionalize the current best way to perform

that process. You create a means of instructing people in their jobs within a
consistent performance definition, you provide a means of evaluating performance
consistently, and you provide a basis for evaluating the success of your improvement
efforts. You may accomplish all this by following the Standardize-Do-Check-Act
(SDCA) cycle, which initially requires you to bring your measurement systems under
control, to identify and document your current method of performing the process
(which becomes the process standard), and to communicate and promote use of the
standard. You train people to the standard, enable its use, and enforce that use.
Once the standard is in force you should measure all process performance against
that standard and respond appropriately to deviations from it. Reducing
performance variation by assessing the causes of deviation and eliminating them

A-44
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

allows you to prevent recurrent deviation. The standard should always reflect the
best current way of performing the process.

Step 5: Tighten Up the Process

Once you have defined a process standard you should tighten up the process
before actually attempting to improve it. Tightening up is the maintenance work you
can do that will make your process improvement efforts as effective as possible.
Ensuring that your process meets its stated and perceived requirements, cleaning
and straightening the process work areas, eliminating unnecessary equipment,
instituting total productive maintenance, and establishing reliable, adequate data
collection systems are essential elements of this effort to tighten up the process.

Step 6: Improve the Process

Your efforts to improve the process should follow the classic PDCA cycle in
which you plan for improvement, implement solutions, check for improvement, and
act to institutionalize improvements. Your effort will involve developing solutions
that address stated requirements and conform to your theories on problem causes.
Your data collection and measurement methodologies must support whatever
solution you envision. Your team must be trained in the techniques necessary to
carry out the plan. After you carry out your planned improvement, you should assess
your data to determine how well actual performance matches planned improvements.
Successful improvements should be institutionalized; less-than-successful efforts
require another pass through the improvement cycle.

Step 7: Assess Improvement Performance

After an improvement has been implemented, you should document improved

performance and the successful improvement effort thoroughly. This documentation
allows others to benefit from the lessons your team has learned and gains you
recognition for your efforts. It also provides a road map so you may replicate
successful improvement techniques. Documenting your improved process also
requires you to update your process definition and flow diagrams and requires that
process standards be rewritten to reflect the new standard of performance. You
should set in place a means of continuously measuring performance levels if this
system does not already exist. Recommending follow-up actions or subsequent
improvement efforts is also appropriate. Finally, celebrate your effort!

A-45
Total QualityManagement: A Guide to Implementation

INDIVIDUAL IMPROVEMENT MODELS

PMI Leadership Expectation Setting Model

The PMI Leadership Expectation Setting (L.E.S.) Model, shown in Figure A-19,
revolves around continuous improvement of "quality indicators" or the factors that
are truly critical to success. Its primary expectation is continuous improvement of
processes and systems within the employee's own function. Leaders and co-workers
participate and are expected to provide constructive help and support. L.E.S. is
predicated on the belief that you and every other individual in your organization are
leaders just as much as top management. L.E.S. comprises eight main steps, which
are briefly described below. 22

Step 1: Develop a Mission Statement

The first step is to develop your own mission statement which is consistent with
the mission of your entire organization. Make it explicit, but remember that it is to
be a guideline for future decision making. As a leader, your vision and mission must
be able to be understood by all those you influence in your organization. A vision
understood only by you will not move others. You must cultivate a feeling of
employee ownership in the organization's future.

Step 2: Identify Key Leadership Functions

Your main improvement priority should be to focus process-improvement

efforts on your highest priority functions. To do this you identify the responsibilities
of your job which have the greatest effects on your group's results. From this
identification you determine specific opportunities for improvement in your
leadership processes.

Step 3: IdentifyImprovement Opportunities

In identifying improvement opportunities, you first need to understand what

your major job functions and tasks are. You focus on your customers, determining
their requirements and priorities and using those requirements to focus your own
improvement efforts. Finally, you must identify factors that indicate the level of

2
2They are discussed in more detail in Schultz, Louis E. L.E.S. Management. Ibid.

A-46
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

Leader Peers Subordinates Custotirrv Quality issues

supervisor suppliers

Study
LES
Management

Develo unitMust be consistent nwth theCoverall

missionorganization's mission
statemenCreate shared vision

Complete leader
performance
matrix

Transfer iead3er Select six highest priority functions

CopeL E S

Management
Form

Share with
upervisor to
reach agreement

No
reApprove7

Revise LfE
management
Plan

Share with
subordinates
I Obtain feedback.
Askthem to start L ES Management
Set expectation for them to share
progress at monthly staff meetings.

Improe keyUse sfstematic approach as defined in

Journal
'he Qualiy

LIT ,

Shareto otainDispia, The Quality Journal report on

feedbackprogress
POCAcontinuously

E E.,,SSet ad, expectations to use L E S

Management Management throughout unit

FIG. A-1 9. PMI LEADERSHIP EXPECTATION SETTING MODEL

A-47
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

quality in your work - how will you establish the basis for improvement and
measure the level of improvement you achieve?

Step 4: Share Results with Supervisor

You must discuss your personal-improvement plan with your supervisor to

ensure it is meaningful to the organization as a whole and that it contributes to
overall organizational goals. Your supervisor should agree with your proposed plan
for improvement and should provide comments on your approach where appropriate.
Since the time and resources available to you for your own improvement depend to a
large extent on your supervisor's support, it is essential for you to obtain his/her
agreement before proceeding.

Step 5: Share the L.E.S. Plan with Subordinates

Leadership improvement is meaningless absent the context of those individuals

being led. Your subordinates are the ultimate purpose of your improvement plan; in
effect they are your major customer. You should share the plan with them and ask
for their comments and perceptions. You should invite them, inasmuch as all
individuals in the organizations are leaders, to begin the L.E.S. process themselves.
You should encourage each individual to share his/her progress with the group.

Step 6: Use a SystematicApproach

To provide consistency to the improvement process, you should adopt a

structured, systematic approach. Such an approach enables you and each person
using the L.E.S. approach to display progress in a manner understandable by all. A
disciplined method of defining a problem, observing it, determining its causes, taking
action, checking the effectiveness of that action, standardizing the solution, and
evaluating the process is a key to providing that consistency. Such a disciplined
approach is outlined in the description of The Quality Journal, published by PMI,
below.

Step 7: Share Progress

Leadership Expectation Setting is not only a model for individual improvement,

it is also a basis for continuous performance communication and feedback between
employees and supervisors. When you share progress, you should not focus on
completing or updating forms, but you should rather engage in substantive

A-48
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

discussion of improvement objectives, obstacles to meeting those objectives, and

lessons learned on the way. Often you will find that more important lessons are
learned in failure than in success; therefore your performance assessment, both with
your supervisor and with your subordinates, should focus on the underlying causes of
failure instead of the fact of failure itself.

Step 8: Cascade L.E.S. Management Through the Organization

You should set the expectation that L.E.S. and individual improvement can be
applied at any level in the organization. Your leadership and adherence to the
process is crucial to its success in your organization however. You must demonstrate
a belief in and commitment to the improvement process if you are to inspire its
adoption by others.

The Quality Journal

The Quality Journal, shown in Figure A-20, is an adaptation of a Japanese

discipline for problem solving. It brings consistency to problem solving in all areas of
an organization and displays progress so that anyone can look at the problem-solving
activities, understand progress, and offer additional suggestions for improvement. It
is a means for documenting your individual improvement efforts. The Quality
Journal displays a summary of activities that may be displayed in more detail by
specific statistical tools. It basically encompasses the seven steps described briefly
below. 23

Step 1: Clearly Define the Problem

You should factually state the extent of the problem and how it impacts the
total system. Then construct an integrated flow chart to graphically display the
process. A problem statement documents in detail what is known about the problem.
It explains the reason for selecting the problem, the background of the problem, and
what has been done to date. An integrated flow chart is a means to examine the
process to see what can be done to simplify it - remove complexity, redundancies,
and unnecessary actions. The problem-solving effort should be planned, and
schedules, time, and costs should be estimated.

23
The seven steps are described in more detail in Schultz, Louis E. The Quality Journal. Ibid.

A-49
Total Quality Management:
A Guide to Implementation

U
III
aI~

31
~~I
cc()1JFjIl
~~I6

I I -

I'1.~!..
0

UV,

A-5
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

Step 2: Observe the Problem

You shoud examine your problem from several points of view, which might
include different times, places, methods, and symptoms. Use specific, focused data
collection methods to ensure consistent, accurate, useful data. Involving your
employees in the data collection process can also help.

Step 3: Determine Causes

In determining the causes of your problem you should first hypothesize possible
causes and then test those causes. You may identify possible causes according to
main categories you establish for the problem. Causes that seem to make the highest
contribution to the problem should be noted; information gained from the observation
step will be helpful in making this determination. Collect new data to test your
hypotheses and either prove or disprove them.

Step 4: Take Action to Eliminate Main Causes

Again, use your data to evaluate several different solutions to the main causes
of the problem. Be careful that you are evaluating and removing root causes and not
merely symptoms. You should also ensure that your solution does not have any
detrimental side effects. Finally, select your solution and implement it.

Step 5: Check Your Solution

You must determine the effectiveness of your selected solution. Data are once
again the key to this determination. Compare the situations before and after. If the
results of the action are not what was desired, first determine if the action was
implemented as planned. If so, but the results are undesirable, you will have to test a
different solution.

Step 6: Standardize SuccessfulSolutions

After the desired results are achieved, you should standardize your solution.
This involves documenting the successful solution in a new process standard and
communicating it to everyone involved in the process. Provide training to ensure the
standard is correctly implemented, and devise a system of observing compliance with
the new standard.

A-51
Total QualityManagement: A Guide to Implementation

Step 7: Conclusion

Finally, review your problem-solving procedure and identify any lessons you
learned about the improvement process itself. Note what worked well and what did
not so that your future improvement efforts and those of others will be even better.

LMI CIP Personal-Improvement Model

The LMI CIP Personal-Improvement Model, illustrated in Figure A-21, follows

the basic guidelines of the LMI CIP Transformation Model but applies those
guidelines to individual-improvement efforts. It involves establishing a vision for
your own improvement effort and enabling that effort; focusing your behavior and
your expectations to achieve continuous improvement in your performance, your job,
and the performance of others; and finally in evaluating your efforts to improve.
Below is a brief discussion of the CIP improvement concepts. 2 4

Step 1: Envision Personal Improvement

Before you can begin to improve you have to decide that there is a need for
improvement and then determine the general emphasis of your improvement effort.
You should build your own self-awareness of the need to improve and your individual
ability to improve. Assessing your relationships within the organization and with
your customers and your suppliers provides a fundamental understanding of the
current status quo. From this assessment you will develop your expectations for your
own behavior, and you can begin creating your personal vision for your improvement.

Step 2: Enable Personal Improvement

You must make your vision a reality and must begin by smoothing the road
along which you will travel. This effort starts with educating yourself about your
improvement goals and about TQM concepts, principles, and practices. Seek training
for yourself in the skills and principles you see as essential to your effort. Enabling is
a process of learning - learning about using TQM tools, about your processes, about
the collection and use of data, and about the process of learning itself. You shou ld
also seek the support of others, not so much from the standpoint of gaining their
approval as from the standpoint of cultivating their help in removing barriers to your
effort.

2 4 Detialed
information is provided in Mansir, Brian E. Ibid.

A-52
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

_ __ From LMI CIP Transformation Model

Envision
personal
improvement

Enable
personal
improvement

Continue
the Focus
process on
improvement

Improve Improve Help

your yorefothers
job improve

Evaluate
improvement
progress

FIG. A-21. LMI CIP PERSONAL-IMPROVEMENT MODEL

Step 3: Focus on Improvement

You focus your improvement effort through establishing goals for that effort
and then ensuring that your improvement activities are aligned with those overall
goals. You should develop a cohesive improvement strategy to guide your efforts and
ultimately use that strategy to evaluate the success of those efforts. Making
improvement a high persona' priority and creating time in your schedule for
improvement activities are vital to this effort and are a clear demonstration to
yourself and to others of your commitment to improvement.

A-53
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Step 4: Improve Your Job

Your job may be defined as the collection of the processes you own. You should
establish control over your job by defining your processes and understanding how
those prccesses interrelate and relate to others, including your customers and your
suppliers. By removing complexity from your processes and pursuing small,
incremental improvements, you will substantially increase the effectiveness of your
performance in your job, and you will greatly enhance your personal-improvement
effort.

Step 5: Improve Yourself

You must demonstrate leadership in the improvement effort through your

commitment to personal improvement. This means that you must establish and
adhere to a structured, disciplined approach to improvement that clearly defines your
goals and requires steady, consistent improvement performance. You should also
facilitate communication between yourself and others, and among others. Remove
the barriers you place in your own way, seek the assistance of others to remove the
barriers you do not control, and work to eliminate your own fears of change and
improvement. This is best done through education and through communication with
others. Depend on your vision as your guide for improvement and use that vision to
maintain your momentum.

Step 6: Help Others Improve

Through your improvement effort, you will help your organization as a whole
improve. An essential part of your personal-improvement effort should be to help
others improve themselves and the organization. By training and coaching others, by
creating more leaders, by working to create teams and eliminate barriers, and by
encouraging others' improvement activities, you will spread your own example and
your enthusiasm throughout the organization. Personally you can make a
substantial contribution to the individual-improvement efforts of others.

Step 7: Evaluate Your Improvement Progress

You must ascertain your success in your efforts to improve. By measuring your
performance against an established base, by recognizing that the value of
improvement lies in the effort to improve instead of the results, and by documenting
your improvement efforts so they may be shared with and used by others, you will

A-54
 Appendix A: Some Models for Improvement

derive the most from your own efforts. Celebrate your success and the success of
others. Ensure through your evaluation that the improvement effort itself is
rewarding and provides further incentive for continuous-improvement effort.

A-55
 APPENDIX B

SEVEN BASIC GRAPHIC TOOLS

 SEVEN BASIC GRAPHIC TOOLS

INTRODUCTION

Tools and techniques are essential to the continuous improvement process. Tools
make it possible for you to accomplish work; make meaningful measurements; and
analyze, visualize, and understandinformation. Techniques help you to organize and
accomplish work in a structured and systematic manner. A great number of
appropriateand useful tools and techniques are available for your continuous-
improvement effort. Detailed informationabout many of those tools and techniques is
contained in the Reference Material at the end of the main text of this guide. Seven
tools, often called the seven basic graphic tools, are essential to any properly designed
improvement effort: (1) flow charts and diagrams,(2) Pareto Charts, (3) cause-and-
effect diagrams, (4) graphs, (5) control charts, (6) checksheets, and (7) scatter
diagrams.

B-.3
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

FLOW CHARTS AND DIAGRAMS

Flow charts permit you to examine and understand relationships in a process or

project. They provide a step-by-step schematic or picture that serves to create a
common language, ensure common understanding about sequence, and focus
collective attention on shared concerns. Several different types of flow charts are
particularly useful in the continuous improvement process. Three frequently used
charts are the top-down flow chart, the detailed flow chart, and the work-flow
diagram.

The top-down flow chart (Figure B-i) presents only the major or most
fundamental steps in a process or project. It help,, you or your team to easily visualize
the process in a single, simple flow diagram. Key value-added actions associated
with each major activity are listed below their respective flow diagram steps.

Build Demonstrate Create a Provide Work from Develop and fo~cuson

_+ e+ constancy of provide
awareness leadership purpose resources the top down training customers

* Build your own * Take initiative * Examine your * Make time in * Start at highest * Use available identify your
awareness 0 Demonstrate mission your schedule possible level resources :ustomners
-
* Encourage your commitment * Develop a plan * Make time for @ Cascade process * Employ just-n * Understand
manager * Take long-term 9 Establish goals Your People down time training their needs

Help your view P Establish . Practice it before * Provide training . Establish

subordinates 0 Eliinate consistent training subordinates on the job routine

" Share concept roadblocks signals * Organize for * Address critical a Train managers dialogue

with union improvement areas first and supervisors * listen tO your

leadership CustO , r5

FIG. B-1. TOP-DOWN FLOW CHART

You can construct a top-down flow chart fairly quickly and easily. You
generally do so before attempting to produce detailed flow charts for a process. By
limiting the top-down flow chart to significant value-added activity, you reduce the
likelihood of becoming bogged down in the detail.The detailed flow chart (Figure B-2)
provides very specific information about process flow. At its most detailed level,
every decision point, feedback loop, and process step is represented. Detailed flow
charts should be used only when the level of detail provided by the top-down or other
simpler flow charts is insufficient to support understanding, analysis, and
improvement activity. The detailed flow chart may also be useful and appropriate for
critical processes where precisely following a specific procedure is essential. The
work-flow diagram (Figure B-3) is a graphic representation or picture of how work

B-4
 Appendix B: Seven Basic Graphic Tools

actually flows through a physical space or facility. It is very useful for analyzing flow
processes, illustrating flow inefficiency, and planning process flow improvement.

E
Focus on your Have customers YesYes
usoes needs defnddalogue

N
No

-4 dialogue with

HasorgnizaionYescustomers Yes
Idenifyvou

customesmissonobee

No needs understood 7 cutoer

Go to "Create a
constancy of
purpose

FIG. B-2. SAMPLE DETAILED FLOW CHART

B-5
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

Drilling Deburring
Legend

SKanban
1111IIj
areas

LI Finishing

Milling

* iiIr~o Purchased
parts

Weldn,~/Assembling

Packing E
LII materials
ansdctn
Just-in-time a cgnd g
r wCutting
stock
F1T
S
LII 1shipping

FIG. s-3. WORKFLOW DIAGRAM

B-6
 Appendix B: Seven Basic GraphicTools

PARETO CHARTS

In the late 1800s, Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, found that typically
80 percent of the wealth in a region was concentrated in less than 20 percent of the
population. Later, Dr. Joseph Juran formulated what he called the Pareto Principle
of problems: only a vital few elements (20 percent) account for the majority
(80 percent) of the problems. For example, only 20 percent of your equipment
problems account for 80 percent of your downtime. Because this Pareto principle has
proven to be valid in numerous situations, it is useful to examine your data carefully
to identify the vital few items that most deserve attention.

A Pareto Chart (Figure B-4) is a bar chart in which the data are arranged in
descending order of their importance, generally by magnitude of frequency, cost,
time, or a similar parameter. The chart presents the information being examined in
its order of priority and focuses attention on the most critical issues. The chart aids
the decision-making process because it puts issues into an easily understood
framework in which relationships and relative contributions are clearly evident.

Frequency Frequency
of of
occurrence occurrence
100
100 100%

Effect of
80 - improvement
80
75%

100%
60 60

50% 75%

40 - 40

50%

-25%
20 20
25%

00
a b c d e f b c a d e f

Before corrective action After corrective action

FIG. B-4. PARETO CHARTS

B-7
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

CAUSE-AND-EFFECT DIAGRAMS

The cause-and-effect diagram (Figure B-5) is a graphic representation of the

relationships among a list of items or factors. It is a useful tool in brainstorming,
examining processes, and planning activities. The process of constructing a cause-
and-effect diagram helps stimulate thinking about an issue, helps organize thoughts
into a rational whole, and generates discussion and the airing of viewpoints. The
diagram documents the level of understanding about an issue and provides a
framework from which to begin expanding that understanding.

Cause-and-effect diagrams can be used to explore a wide variety of topics

including the relationships between an existing problem and the factors that might
bear on it; a desired future outcome and the factors that relate to it; or any event past,
present, or future and its causal factors.

B-8
 Appendix B: Seven Basic GraphicTools

Environment People

Open Coaching e view

Long-term 'e initiative
Executive Steer Ing
E Stimulation 0 Consistent
P 5 Leadership
Manager
n ve
Organization
/ Communications
'on
Process Awareness Communications
vnIcations Commitment
Quality
u.'.t improvement S PoSH
It ve CVertca Clear 0
Management
xecute
'Z' t
a age- learns, Positive vertical Roadblock removal
Boards Union Routm r gue
to 'u, Farr
ont""o. intrinsic Team Subordinates Union Coach Ing O'b'.ck
Codialogue
Routine
Long-t-r-
"pPr0es' u
ment
ng
Rewarded Supported It n
Reward and recognition
m 0
Teamwork KnownC Customer
Needs

Linked
L,
7
See
nn d Ced
r
Cross-functional Encouraged
T.r
Timely Certain individual Involved
m
I
in Pro m In
problem
solvingpi
sovw
L*
understood
r,7u,'t"fn'

Personal Boss Fair Timely used Measurable

Suggestion% Projects
Training Staff Measurement
Time , Teams

provement
Subordlnate-s ftople Accurate Meaningf ul Method \ -
Relevant to Planned
customer
Consistent Strategic plan
1.nd, instructors Audio-visual
Reward and recognition %Ignais Goal's Supervisors train subordinates
Training illurpose Managers and supervisors

rrainng
Library Courses
0 Mission
depploylim"ent itaternent Off the shelf On the job
Processes
Resources

FIG. 6-5. CAU5E-AND-EFFECT DIAGRAM

B-9
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

GRAPHS

Many different types of graphs are available and useful to the improvement
process. Figure B-6 shows some of the most common, such as the simple line graph
(time plots or trend chart), pie chart, and bar chart, or histogram. Graphs are useful
for presenting data in simple pictorial form that is quickly and easily understood.
Graphs serve as powerful communications tools and should be employed liberally in
the workplace to describe performance, support analyses, and document the
improvement process.

B40
 Appendix B: Seven Basic Graphic Tools

35

30

25

20
Number of
defects 1

10

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Month

(a) Line graph

Frequency
14
16% Bent
12 24% Chipped

10

0
60% Off color
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Defects per lot 1ype of Defects

(b) Histogram FI.66 RPS(c) Pie Chart

B-1I
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

CONTROL CHARTS

A control chart (Figure B-7) is a graph that displays data taken over time and
also shows computed variations of tho e data. Control charts are used to show the
variation on a variety of variables including average (X) and range (R) and also the
number of defects (PN), percent defective (P), defects per variable unit (U), and
defects per fixed unit (C). Books by Ishikawa and Kume (see "Suggested Readings -
Books" in the Reference Material presented at the end of the main text) provide
excellent guidance on using these tools. The control chart allows you to distinguish
between measurements that are predictably within the inherent capability of the
process (common causes of variation) and measurements that are unpredictable and
produced by special causes.

The upper and lower control limits (UCL and LCL) must not be confused with
specification limits. Control limits describe the natural variation of the process such
that points within the limits are generally indicative of normal and expected
variation. Points outside the limits signal that something has occurred that requires
special attention because it is outside of the built-in systemic causes of variation in
the process. Note that the circled point on the X-bar chart, while outside the control
limits, does not mean the process is out of control. A series of points outside control
limits would be necessary for that determinate. Each individual point out of the
limits should be explained, however.

These charts help you understand the inherent capability of your processes,
bring your processes under control by eliminating the special causes of variation,
reduce tampering with processes that are under statistical control, and monitor the
effects of process changes aimed at improvement.

B- 12
 Appendix B: Seven Basic Graphic Tools

Average

-- IV V V \

10

--------------------------------------------------------------- UCL
8

4 AR

0 LCL

FIG. B-7. CONTROL CHARTS

B-13
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

CHECKSHEETS

A checksheet (Figure B-8) is a list of check-off items that permit data to be

collected quickly and easily in a simple standardized format that lends itself to
quantitative analysis. A checksheet frequently contains a graphic representation of
an object and is used to record such information as where specific damage was
located. Checksheets are intended to make data collection fast and easy. They
should be carefully designed so that the data are useful and have a clear purpose.
Checksheets are frequently used to collect data on numbers of defective items, defect
locations, and defect causes.

B-I 4
 Appendix B: Seven Basic Graphic Tools

Checksheet
Product: Receiver unit XYZ Date: 9/09/89

Name: Smith

Lot: 17
TotalI examni ned: 200

Defect type Defect count Subtotal

Chip%,ec #/,v9 ##9 ##9/ 15

Off coior 9, *L*, /,//22
oent5

Grand totai: 42

(a) Front

_ _ __ _ _
1
joo
0
071
Left side
Front and top

Right side LI
Back and bottom

Damage discovered Damage occurred

During assembly During maintenance

- During inspection In storage

- During packaging In shipping

- By customer - in customer facility

MbBack

FIG. B-8. CHECKSHEET

B-I 5
Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

SCATTER DIAGRAMS

Scatter diagrams (Figure B-9) and their related correlation analysis permit you
to examine two factors at one time and to determine the relationship that may exist
between them. The graphic display can help to lead you toward the possible causes of
problems even when the linkage between the factors is counterintuitive. The pattern
or distribution of data points in a scatter diagram describes the strength of the
relationship between the factors being examined. However, even a strong correlation
does not imply a cause-and-effect relationship between the factors. Additional work
may be required to uncover the nature of the indicated relationship.

-* 1. Strong positive correlation

2- Weak positive correlation

X

3. No correlation
X

-%4.Weak negative correlation

5 Strong negative correlation

FIG. B-9. SCATTER DIAGRAMS

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LEMENTARY NOTATION

COSATI CODES 18 SUBJECT TERMS (Continue on reverse if necessary and identify by block number)
.D GROUP ISUB-GROUP I Quality, Management, Improvement, TQM, Continuous improvement, Process improvement

RACT (Continue on reverse if necessary and identify by block number)

al Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy and a set of guiding principles and practices that represent the foundation of a continuously
ing organization. It applies human resources and quantitative methods to improve the material and services supplied to an organization, all the
es within an organization, and the degree to which the needs of the customer are met now and in the future. It integrates fundamental
*menttechniques, existing improvement efforts, and technical tools in a disciplined and focused continuous improvement process.
al Quality Management addresses the quality of management as well as the management of quality. It involves everyone in an organization in a
itic long-term endeavor to develop processes that are customer oriented, flexible and responsive, and constantly improving in quality. Quality
s any factor of product or service of value to a customer. Ultimately, TQM is a means through which an organization creates and sustains a culture
ted to continuous improvement.
al Quality Management is a means for improving personal effectiveness and performance, and for aligning and focusing all individual efforts
tout your organization. It provides a framework within which individuals may Lontinuously improve everything they do and affect. It is a way of
ing individual effort and extending its effect and its importance throughout an organization and beyond. (Continued over)

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19. Abstracts (continued)

Total Quality Management is not a destination but a journey toward improvement. This guidebook will help individuals get started on that
journey. It will help them understand the benefits of continuous improvement and their roles and responsibilities in leading the improvement effort in
their organizations. The authors briefly explore why continuous improvement is important to everyone. They offer a brief overview ofTQM, describe a
core set of individual and organizational behavior that has proven key to successful improvement efforts, and offer a general model for improvement
efforts. This guide will serve as a frame of reference for the ongoing dialogue about TQM within DoD and its supplier community.

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