HOME PAGE

TQM – A Journey, not a Destination

Jobnet's Placement Consultants Directory

Article

TQM – A Journey, not a Destination
By Pramod Batra

You and I have been hearing about quality more or less since we were kids. And to me, the word “quality’ has become like the world “truth”! Each one of us is asked to speak the truth, each one of us also asks the other quite frequently to tell the truth. However, within a minute, if not sooner, we tell a lie! I think the situation is similar when it comes to management of quality in a company, now called Total Quality Management (TQM).

In fact, those who talk most about truth usually tell the maximum number of lies! Similarly, most of those who talk and talk about TQM only talk, and do precious little about it Maybe I am wrong, but I would like you to carry out your self-audit in the privacy of your office and judge for yourself.

Assume for a while that Hema Malini is coming to meet you, and carry out the quality audit. Look around yourself. Well, whatever you feel needs to be done, go ahead and get it done or start doing it. I went through the exercise and I would like to share my findings with you.

To me, management of quality is when you:
Pay attention to detail.
Do things right the first time.
Practice good human relations

It all actually boils down to doing small, small things greatly. Years ago, I read that most of us are not destined to be great, but each one of us can certainly do small things greatly. I do! Now, the question is, do you want to feel great? Do you want to feel happy with yourself? Do you want to become a hero in your own eyes? Here is the success formula.Start doing what is to be done.now! Make a list of things, which are bothering you and are pending. Start doing them one by one; or let someone else do them for you, even if this person cannot do them as well as you can.

Pay attention to detail. Kill the flies and mosquitoes, which are bothering you and then take on the stuff, which will take you towards quality.
You cannot have TQM if you do not practice good human relations and do not do the right things. Right is right, but all of us are in a hurry to do the next right thing, so we start compromising, and there is no limit to it. We end up in a mess where it becomes a question of the “chicken and egg syndrome”. Which came first?

Even when you are in a mess, start doing small, small things greatly. Consequently, you will start feeling great; and when you start feeling great, you will start doing slightly bigger things greatly. You will then be on the road to TQM, which is a journey, not a destination. The journey, even to the moon, starts with a single step.

Quality Means No Fused Bulb.
A fused tube light, broken chair, scratch on the ‘wall, torn carpet, old calendars or charts on the wall, noisy door closers, squeaky doors, and so the list goes on.
Have you ever seen a young lady with a squint in her eyes? Well... every fused bulb and tube light is like that squint!

Recently I visited the office of a very large organization and the doormat at the reception was full of dust, torn and worn out. Every manager stepped on it at least twice a day. This company is shouting from the rooftop about TQM and ISO 9000! But to me, this humble doormat was ‘shouting’, as I realized only after I was inside the office. Of course, the interior had a lot of granite, marble, brass, chrome-all the frills-but the “dirty dozen” (a concept in five star hotels to see and clean the hidden areas where dust accumulates) were conveniently ignored. Telephones and computers were dirty and shabby; naked wires could be seen everywhere; there were fused bulbs and tube lights here and there, the Venetian blinds were filthy and broken.... Well, all this filth showed the carelessness on the part of the management, and sure enough it reflected in the quality of the product.

Years ago, in 1960, while I was doing my MBA in Minnesota, the president of the company manufacturing Wonderbread presented a talk. I still remember his words... “We wash our white delivery trucks every night, because each truck conveys that if a company maintains its fleet so clean, the bread would also.” It made a lot of sense.

Look at your delivery trucks...possibly dented at six places and the driver, without a shave and honking every three seconds! Bad manners. well, when was the last time you trained your drivers? I can go on and on...just look around yourself, please.

Quality means no rats, No flies...
...whether you are making refrigerators or selling computers or are in banking!
Recently, when the Surat plague scare was at its peak, there were, believe it or not, 60,000 fat rats in a 600 - bed hospital at Indore. Thirty rooms were full of old and broken furniture, because in 1936 a resolution was passed to the effect that administration cannot write off assets in excess of Rs.3000 per year. Silly rules, agreed. But look around and do a bit of MWA (Management by Walking Around) and see. Your place may have six rats. If so, get them killed even if it costs Rs.1000 per rat! You action will communicate down the line that you want quality, total quality.

In my job at the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, I considered a rat in the building as a lion that had escaped from the Delhi Zoo, and acted accordingly. I consider every fly in the building to be sitting on my nose! As for stray dogs, the security officials have strict instructions to shoo them away. Do you think that a company which allows or tolerates rats, flies, dogs and any such similar things, can make quality products, or give quality products, or give quality service? In my opinion, no!

By the way, it takes six reminders on an average to get these small, small things done. Lizards were another problem and I had to issue 36 reminders to get rid of them every year. So, be patient, insistent and persistent. Become a postage stamp that sticks to the envelope till it is delivered.

Quality means No Leaking Tap...
...no leaking flush, no wet floors, no overflowing or clogged drains, no pedestal fans or desert coolers in offices in winter...and a hundred such things.
Quality, in my opinion, boils down to having a BFP attitude (bahut farak painda, i.e., it makes a lot of difference) towards everything and anything. It is like the Japanese polishing the gears in the gearbox, even though they are never seen by the customers; or in a good hotel, where even the top of the fan blades are cleaned regularly. Too much fuss...? Well, that is quality!

Why not audit you toilets and make a list of leaky objects. Also, while you are on such a visit, look around for damp patches on the walls. It only means that a pipe is leaking somewhere. What has this to do with quality? Look at it this way. When your workers see that you are accepting dampness on the walls, they get the massage of chalta hai or chalegaa, i.e., let it carry on.

They also become careless and indifferent. Let me explain about ignorance and indifference on the part of the management. Ignorance (when management is not aware of it) is less bad than indifference (when management does not care) which implies that you don’t care, you don’t bother — very soon, you will find that people start becoming lazy and less interested in doing the right things at the right time.
Quality is like reputation...
...it takes years to build and a day to ruin!
In 1960, I purchased a Canon camera from a shop in Tokyo. Canon was not very well known then. Some months later, it so happened that I was returning from the USA to India via Japan, by ship, and happened to visit a Canon shop again. I showed my camera, which had stopped working. In 30 minutes flat, I was given a new camera as I was to sail further the next day. There was no paperwork, no meetings with a battery of managers - the girl at the counter did it herself with a smiling face.

Now, compare this with your system...Start anywhere. Start with the simple systems. Remember that a few customers (4 per cent) will cheat you anyhow. So why punish the balance (96 per cent) of your customers? Build this ‘misuse’ cost into your price.

I learnt quality lessons from my friend, G. M. Kinger of Shanti Plastics, in Bombay. In the last 20 years of dealings with him, every folder manufactured by his organization has been so perfect that I guarantee each of his folders to whomsoever I recommend them with a promise to give Rs.100 from my pocket for every defective folder.

You don’t have to be an MBA from Harvard or Ahmedabad to understand this simple fact - but it is likely that such ‘qualified’ persons would have a computerized system to improve quality, when it merely means not making a bad piece in the first instance, and if at all you do so once in a while, replacing it without any fuss. Say sorry to the customer, learn from the mistake and debit the costs to R&D ...simple as that!

Quality is when every phone is picked up before the third ring...
Do me a favour and call up any Oberoi Hotel. Most likely the phone will be picked up before the first ring itself. Well, how do they do it? I spent some time studying it. incidentally, the pay scales of their employees are very reasonable. Money is not the motivator. It is training that has made the difference. Their telephone operators are well supervised. It is a profit center and contributes over a couple of crores per year in net profit! Now, do me another favour; call up your own office! Don’t say who you are, and ask your telephone operator a few questions which your customers would normally ask. You are in for many surprises, buddy! After this, have a look at the TQM and ISO 9000 folders decorating your bookshelf. No harm done yet! Start doing something about your telephones. Not by shouting, but by finding out what is wrong, where, and how it can be corrected.

In one case, the personnel manager spent an hour a day on the EPABX board to get the ‘feel’ of the incoming and outgoing calls. To give dignity to the operator’s job, she got them good uniforms, and got the room properly lit. Since she believed in excelled house -keeping, she made sure there were no naked wires anywhere and also got the equipment professionally cleaned once a month. If anyone from the company misbehaved with an operator, she intervened.
Do not give lip -service. Instead, do small, small things greatly. Provide up-to-date telephone directories to your operators. Your secretary or administrative manager must ensure that it is done religiously. The directory is the Brahmastra for your telephone operators. Have good PR with the staff of the telephone company, including “dining and wining” and in particular, look after the linesman with monthly ‘tea money’ including your complementaries. To me, this is also TQM.

Quality is when every letter is replied to promptly...
Carry out an audit, a quick one. Call in for the file of any customer. Go through it. Make a list of the date of incoming letters and the replies sent out. You will be able to judge your quality in practice.

Maybe the situation is atrocious, maybe it is very good — either way, you can improve it even best can be made better. And of course, you have the opportunity of a lifetime to convert the atrocious situations into something far better and feel good about it.
It is likely that your people do not know what is a reasonable time in which to reply to letters. In the USA, they follow the practice of same -minute reply. At EDDAL, we have been following that for years. This is TQM. Ask your customer if he minds this system.

We asked our dealers, and they appreciated the system of handwritten replies sent out the same day rather than beautifully typed out letters that took weeks to arrive.
Quality is when you regularly clean your ‘Armpits’.
I am referring to your scrap yard, filing room, stationery store...areas which are hidden or are difficult to reach or see.
Recently we did this exercise and I must admit that we threw away lots and lots of paper and in the process got back lots of empty shelf space and floor space.
The mess was the result of carelessness, laziness and attachment to things, which we got printed and bought over the years. All was stored away, hoping that some day it would be made use of. When we were refused additional space we had no choice but to ‘dry -clean’ what we had.
I would suggest that you too start the exercise. See for yourself the contents of drawers, shelves, stores and ask when it was last used or requisitioned.
Lofts, shafts mezzanines understair storage areas...it may be a good idea to begin with these. Get them emptied one by one and then rearrange the material in a manner, which, would be neater. I did it with the room where I store my publications. By spending Rs.500 on casual labourers I was able to “find” things worth Rs.10000 that had been missing for years. Plus everything looked neat and tidy, and I felt good all over.

While you are cleaning the ‘armpits’, audit your electrical wiring and panels. Remove the hazardous objects and things. Quality is when you don’t have noisy door closers... ...squeaky doors or dirty exhaust fans. Recently I was in the toilet of a V-P’s office. The exhaust fan was working noiselessly but the wire mesh in front of it was dirty shabby and clogged to the extent of 80 per cent. Probably, it had not been cleaned for years. It was a waste of the fan’s energy too which would break down sooner or later.
Most of the doors in many offices squeak and all they need is a few drops of oil. It shows that the management does not care.
And about the door closers...khat khat! Well at the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, we gave the contract for Rs.3 per door closer per month. A mechanic would come every Saturday for maintenance and repairs. During the week the carpenter did the job. It works well. We stocked fast -moving spares and new standby units.

Quality is when you have neat and clean telephone instruments...
Look at your telephone. Is the number written by hand or by computer i.e., carelessly or carefully? Quality starts from you, just like charity begins at home.
Is your telephone instrument cleaned regularly or is it dotted with ‘flyshit’? It happens. Look at your office equipment. Wires and cables -have they been dressed up? Do you cover these machines at night? Look at these things with the eyes of a third party. Sit on your visitor’s chairs. Are they in good condition or are they rickety -rackety? Is the upholstery neat and clean? Quality is when you change the upholstery before it looks dirty or is torn somewhere. The carpet — is it dirty or torn? And in that way, have a look at everything with a magnifying glass. Now, make a list of such items.

Call this DIN (Do It Now). Make it at regular intervals — say, every second Monday. Start giving DIN numbers. In my last job, I had gone up to number 66. We managers used to meet at 11 a.m. for 20 minutes or so. It worked beautifully.

Most of the pending items required an average of six reminders! A bit of nagging, a bit of humour, a bit of thanks in anticipation, a bit of initiative and creativity -it worked very well.

The important thing is that every unimportant thing becomes important and starts whispering; and when many unimportant things whisper, it becomes shouting. TQM is when you do small, small things greatly before they start whispering.

 Jobnet's Placement Consultants Directory - India & International

What's Inside?

• Placement Consultants in over 38 cities in India

• International Placement Consultants in over 31 countries

• Coverage in MNC's NGO's UN Government & Indian Co websites

• Special Section for Freshers

with complete Addresses, telephone numbers, email ids & specializations.
Jobnet Placement Consultants Directory - Order Online or Call - 09811017183