Case Studies: Leadership in Quality

TecSmart Electronics

Question 1

Deming’s 14 points are geared towards ensuring that quality is built into every level of the organization’s operations. This involves things like improving communication within the company, setting smart goals and objectives, encouraging innovation within the ranks, spreading decision making to areas where they are most effective, conducting on-the-job training for efficient organizational learning and generally allowing the employees to take credit and responsibility for their actions and achievements within the company. Looking at TecSmart’s strategy, it can be said that the company is also set on embedding the concept of quality all through its operations seeing as they also emphasize on objectives, communication, training, decision support and evaluation as well as recognition as far as quality is concerned.

Question 2

The organization’s practices can be listed to support the Baldrige criteria, addressing the questions of analysis and knowledge management, strategic planning, measurement, leadership, customer, workforce and operations focus, as well as outcomes. The company is highly interested in the efficiency of the processes undertaken as opposed to simply considering the result. As expected, these practices are efficient and largely impressive in the way they operate.

Question 3

Suppliers are a critical part of the company’s operations. Thus, when it comes to their operations focus, it can be stated that there is an obvious opportunity for improvement. The fact that the selected suppliers are exempted from inspection implies that the company puts all their trust in their choice suppliers, leaving room for disappointment and compromise. It would be more prudent and practical to carry out inspections that will guarantee the suppliers’ compliance with the organization’s quality expectations. With respect to the results component of their operations, the company would be best placed rewarding the employees for a well-done job to ensure that they are consistently motivated and encouraged to do their best.

Is Quality Good Marketing or is Good Marketing Quality?

Question 1

The appearance of the store gives customers a feel of what to expect when they purchase the furniture and adapt a particular vignette style in their homes. Perfection of the layout impresses the customer since when the furniture looks perfect, its quality also seems to be high. The warehousing is important in maintaining the furniture in a perfect state so as not to compromise its quality when it reaches the store or the customer. Delivery is all about looking professional so that the customers are assured that the company has people who know what they are doing. Thus, professionals can be trusted due to their taste and quality. Customer relations are, on the other hand, concerned with convincing the customers that they are making the right choices and that they can trust the company to give them the best quality.

Question 2

I agree because product inspection ensures that the supplier does not jeopardize the company’s good name by providing substandard products. In its turn, market research ensures that the company knows what the customers want and is able to satisfy their needs. Once the company has established itself as a quality provider, the major determinants are the suppliers and the customers.

Question 3

Quality is good marketing in that if an organization is known for providing high quality products, the customers are likely to keep coming back and recommend the same services or products to their friends and family as well. Maintaining a high quality within a company serves more as a marketing concept than marketing would serve as a quality concept. It simply follows that when the customers know that you are able to give the best quality, they will be impressed enough to become loyal as well as act like ambassadors for the brand.

Quality in Practice

Question 1

At Gerber, quality is not just about meeting international standards in the manufacturing processes. The company tends to consider the needs and expectations of the customers when creating the products. The company sets out to meet the exact needs and expectations of their target customers by doing as much as they can. This implies that they go beyond the concept of quality management as a competitive advantage and instead use it as a definitive guide in their operations. Transparency and access granted to consumers when it comes to the company’s operations further define their perception of quality as having nothing to hide from the customers and competitors.

Question 2

The company looks towards meeting the needs and expectations of the customers by ensuring that the products made are up to the best standards possible. They also try to ensure that the operations are as environmentally friendly as possible to be on the right track with their stakeholders. As for participation and teamwork, the company is known for having the employees working together in a seamless blend that only breaks for innovative thinking and brainstorming. Each of the employees is valued within the organization, which builds a very strong team spirit. The process focus is about ensuring that the operations are as effective and up to high standards as possible while the continuous improvement refers to their innovative corporate culture in which continuous training and organizational learning are emphasized.

Question 3

The fact that the company was actually steadfast and consistent in ensuring quality of their operations helped them to regain the trust of the customers. To other companies, this implied that if they do everything right with respect to quality management, then their mistakes can be written off and their trust untainted by unfortunate incidents.

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