Quality could be found in all shapes and sizes. It all depends on where and how you look for it. As opposed to any sort of totality in them, I personally view them as comprising of aggregate and infinitesimal components. I may be wrong; but still, in no hurry to pause and rethink. I need not lose any sleep over it. This view (or analogy) has always worked-out fine for me. It is tested and trusted. It serves me right. That is why I have not deemed it necessary to stop clinging onto it: despite how silly or brilliant you might call it. Join me, if you like. The choice is yours to make. I have already made mine. And I bask in peace with it!
One thing your MBA professors will never tell you is that there is no totality in Total Quality Management. You must figure that out for yourself. And regardless of your inference, they would want you to believe that TQM is an integral part of building a reliable and sustainable Supply Chain Management system. They are not by any means wrong. It is just that there were other things which have been left unsaid. But I shall not dwell on that now, knowing that business processes are nothing but corporate climates.
Based on the popular English saying that “the first cut is the deepest”, my whole idea of emphasizing quality management is to get things right with the very first attempt. In order to see this materialize, I wouldn’t mind working more closely with both customers and business affiliates. I believe that doing this will not only create rapport and closer ties, but will help me understand how to get things right with an initial effort. So, hackneyed operations mantras (of effective and efficient control) could as well go to dogs, if I succeed. Yeah! This is my devil-may-care attitude towards quality management. And I have had no regrets so far. Nothing at all to dread! The good Lord has always kept me afloat!
My view of quality management is simple and dual in nature. That is: as much internal as it is external. And under normal circumstances, no side must be ripped or shortchanged. This means that although I strive to satisfy our customers, suppliers, and other business associates, I do not neglect or underestimate the importance of keeping our employees happy. They are whatever my business claims to be. Would you recommend that I overlook that?
In fact, maintaining a satisfied workforce is my prime TQM agenda. This is because all our operational plans and actions would amount to nothing, if there were no dedicated personnel to project and implement them. And don’t forget that happy staffs would inadvertently translate to caring and customer-centric personnel. Thus, they remain my friends in need; and I call them my friends indeed.
Therefore, understand it when I say that our relationship must be a conscientious one. It is bordered on cordial responsibilities: with complementary duties towards one another. I have always made it part of our TQM effort to explore ways of building and sustaining a satisfied workforce. For this reason, the roles of employee attitudes, values, and ethics are regularly studied. They are used to assess their working behavior and sense of corporate responsibilities. In turn, our aim is to use the derivatives of these internal studies and observations to envisage how best to motivate staffs. It is an affordable experiment, which seems right for us to chart.
Given the fact that individual perceptions and values affecting their productivities are closely intertwined, we try meticulously to comprehend all these. They would help us select the most effective and the most rewarding motivational inputs, which would best address our personnel needs.
We have learned that Total Quality Management is just another term for devising an improved and efficient working method. The objective is to progressively enhance corporate responsibilities in ways that would ensure the outputs of high quality products and services.
Now, having heard all the mysteries and fantasies surrounding my idea of TQM; would you let me hear about yours? Ha-ha-ha-ha!
VALENTINE ODUENYI.
