Quality Management Worldwide Total Quality Management Essay

For more than four decades subsequently independence the companies in India enjoyed a protected commercialise with virtually no competition, and some of them even monopolised the market, with customers having little or no choice. As a result complacency set in, and no pressure existed for expediency or change.However, the policy of sphericalization and liberalization adopted by the Indian organisation five gigantic time ago, has hrown open new avenues and disputes to companies in India. The new policy has resulted in open doors through which global corpo graze players halt entered the Indian markets, and argon threatening the domestic manufacturers and suppliers, using step as a weapon. This has compelled the managers of local companies to look for those tools and techniques, proven and tested, which would help them to maintain and amend their strategies and positions in the market.One such policy or philosophy that has captured the attention of constancy and the busines s community is TQM. Particularly, in the re cent years TQM is even complimentsed as bsolutely essential for ingathering, stability, and prosperity. This paper has the main intention of presenting an over lot of TQMs progress in the country, starting from its initiation to its current spatial relation. Besides, the paper also describes how the organizational attempts by various agencies enabled the establishment of a TQM culture.Further, these attempts ar presented in a chronological order, to appreciate the reference played by various agencies, which resulted in harvest-festival and propagation of TQM in India. Towards the end, the gaps that tranquillize exist and hence the efforts that eed to be channeled argon pointed out, so as to result in appropriate guidelines about the change state to be d i. The author R. Jagadeesh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of robotic Engineering, S. J. College of Engineering, Mysore, India.Keywords TQM, India, shade Abstract Tot al part worry (TQM) has spread its move in every sphere of the global corporal world and Indian companies are no exception. In this paper, offshoot the growth and spread ofTQM in India is traced from its initiation to current status. Further, the paper has tried to identify the causes for piteous superior of intersections and ervice, and the gaps that exist between the expectations and the outcome after adopting the TQM practices. Later a scathing view of the superior scene in India is presented, and finally, ground on these observations adequate guidelines and recommendations are made to bridge this gap.It is concluded that there is still a long way to go for Indian companies to receive the stamp of word sense for their products at international take. Electronic access The current issue and exuberant text archive of this Journal is available at http//www. emerald-library. com are substitutable with postgraduate forest products and trust worthiness. However, the p ost- independent era did not look any spectacular improvement regarding the timber of hots and swear outs stird in the country. fit to Agrawal (1993) due to protected business environment some(prenominal) positive attributes of the Indian industry possess been lost and weaknesses have surfaced.These weaknesses based on the news report are overlook of trust and credibility in the leading(a) system, lack of clarity/seriousness for achieving target, lack of precise observance of rules and norms, low tonus of supplies and components, lack of consciousness of time as money, viewing just now briefly term benefits ahead of long term oals, politicalization of labor unions, lack of obligation for actions, lack of counseling commitment, lack of national attribute policy, inadequate scotch resources, lack of indigenous technology, inadequate infrastructure, preferring quantity to quality, lack of team spirit, trust formation, and sellers market.Besides, lack of consumerism, Government control on everything, bureaucratic delays, quick take in making attitudes by the companies, all resulted in quality get a low priority and consequently Indian products were constrained to serve only the domestic market being not able to compete in the international markets. Further, the factors mentioned before, clearly proved to be obstacles in the path to progress, and India in spite of possessing good resources and rich scientific and technical manpower, could not produce world-class products acceptable in the international markets.The TQM movement in India The TQM initiatives were firstly set by the Confederation of Indian Industries (Cll) in the early 1980s, in its pioneering effort in promoting cognizance about quality among Indian industries. The work done by Cll in this direction is well documented in Deccan Herald Advertising Feature (1993) and also in The Standards Engineer (1996). In 1982, quality circles took birth in India, and some of the companies to launch quality circles first were Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore, and Bharat Heavvy Electricals Limited, Trichy.In 1986 the Cll then known as CEI (Confederation of Engineering Industries), invited Professor Ishikawa to India, to care for industry pot about quality. Later in 1987, a TQM per centumage was set up by the Cll. This division owes its foundation to 21 companies who concur to support the cause by pooling resources and pledging to start the Journey to TQM. Chief executives of these companies create the theme Committee on eccentric, 22 Total quality management in India ? perspective and analysis R. Jagadeesh The TQM Magazine Volume 1 1 . Number 5. 1999 . 321?327 newsletter on quality.In 1987 and 1988, the Cll invited the Juran Institute to India to conduct common chord training workshops, and then in 1989 a team from India attended the Deming Seminar in London. Study teams organized by the Cll were taken to Japan and the USA to conceive quality practices. Dur ing 1990, the Cll consolidated and focused on training, and in February 1991, an Indian fraternity with the assistance of the Cll, admited the first ISO 9000 certification in India. The Cll organized the launch of the National Quality Campaign led by the Prime Minister of India in May 1992.It is around this time, the process of globalization and liberalization was started in the country, bringing a new dimension to the business and industrial sectors. From then on, a new line of thinking in terms of quality, productivity, and competitiveness has begun. Since 1993, the Cll has been organizing The Quality Summit every year. This provides an opportunity for all business leaders, and spicyer level managers of member and non-member organizations of the Cll to network, learn, and contribute hrough experience sharing, and listening to the experts who gather there.The National productivity Council (NPC) has set up a TQM and Benchmarking Division in New Delhi, and offers TQM execution of instrument serve, which include modular training programs and consultancy services. In 1996, the Government of India announced the saddle horse up of the Quality Council of India, (QCI) with the Industry Ministry bringing in half the set capital of Rs. 1. 5 crores. The rest of the seed capital will be contributed by the bodily sector.The setting up of a national delegation for quality certification is art of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, on a lower floor which member countries will not trade in non-certified products two years down the line. The merged sector too was demanding the setting up of an internationally recognized quality council as it found the certification process from exotic agencies too expensive. Besides, it would save vital opposed exchange for the country. The QCI will be entrusted with monitoring and administering of the National Quality Campaign and will also make do the effective functioning of the National Information and Enquiry Se rvices.Post-liberalization scene ? improvement in quality The economic reforms that started in 1992 have ushered in a new era of progress and prosperity in the country. According to a report published in YoJana (1997), the real gross domestic product (GDP) recorded a growth rate of 6. 8 per cent in agriculture and allied sectors, 7. 0 per cent in industry, and 7. 4 per cent in services. The Eighth Five Year Plan (EFYP) (1992-97) which ended with an clean growth rate of 6. 5 per cent per annum, compares well with the target rate of 5. 6 per cent for the EFYP, and actual achievement of 6. 0 per cent in the Seventh Five Year Plan. In fact his is the in high spiritsest average growth rate achieved in the planning period since 1951. The sectoral average growth range for the period 1992-97 are Agriculture and allied sectors ? 4. 0 per cent, Industry ? 7. 8 per cent and, Services ? 9. 2 per cent. Further, trades during 1996-97 registered a growth rate of 4. 1 per cent. Foreign direct i nvestment amounted to US $2,696 million during 1996-97. These facts clearly shew that the economic reforms brought through globalization and liberalization have yielded rich dividends, and save a lot of promise for the coming years.While all ndividually to improve their product quality, besides overall performance through TQM practices. For example, Gupta and Sagar (1993) describe a case of total quality control in an engineering telephoner through the extensive use of personal computers, and state that the Indian order was able to overcome many quality related problems which included high rejection levels, boring follow-up rates, frequent errors in measurement, inconsistency in translation inspection data, time consuming data storage and retrieval, rigid inspection schedules, not responding to changing environment, and quality plans not adjusted to varying toilet sizes.The company improved the problem solving capacity through quality circles, and quality database at each st age. Comprehensive information systems enabled the personnel to obtain better guidance leading to improved decision making. Thus the achievement is attributed to systematic application of TQM. 323 The TQM Magazine volume 11 . Number 5 . 1999 . 321?327 avocation Today (1995) in an exclusive coverage on status of quality of India, presents a detailed report on companies which are market leaders and corporate giants. The cases covered include reports on leading Indian companies like Mukand, BPL, Arvind,IFB, ABB, HDFC, Amex, Hidustan Lever, Ranbaxy, Indal, Gujarat AmbuJa, Wsya Bank, Oberoi Hotels, and Thermax. It is emphasized that these companies carved a niche for themselves by centre on quality in their planning, operations, and marketing strategies. Awareness of quality ? a positive change Pati and Reis (1996) state that India is emerging as a leading economy in the new world economic order. The phenomenal development in Indias export earnings, which rose to IJS$ 26. 2 billion in the 1994-95 fiscal year showed an increase of 18. 27 per cent over its 1993-94 export earnings of IJS$22. 7 billion. This is said to be an indicator of how its products and services are perceived by its global customers. It is further declared that the thrust has been shifted from spell out substitution to development of an export-oriented economy. Other pertinent observations made are . Indian businesses are pursuing paths of superior quality and high productivity . quality conscious consumerism . increasing competition . industries expanding their domestic share and venturing into global markets . evidential rise in the ISO 9000 certified companies.The survey conducted by Pati and Reis (1996) has further revealed many interesting aspects bout quality practices in India. The survey pursuitionnaire has used a five-point Likert interval to capture the strength of perception, where points 1 (very high), 2 (high), 3 (medium), 4 (low), and 5 (very low) indicate the degree of curre nt practice related to quality. The censorious success factors contributing to quality and overall average scores (3. 43) . role of quality department/personnel (3. 14) . training (3. 69) . product/service founding (2. 91) . supplier quality management (2. 6) process management and operating procedures (2. 74) quality data reporting (2. 72) employee relations (2. 2). It is concluded from the survey that the manufacturing sector in India is well aware of importance of quality, and efforts have been channeled to improve product quality. However, the service sector mostly Government owned and operated, lags behind the manufacturing sector in all aspects that imply quality. TQM ? success stories of Indian companies galore(postnominal) Indian companies are beginning to realize that customer focus is an absolute requirement of TQM.Jain (1996), while writing on TQM in India, states that companies are paying ambient attention to consumer feed put up in order to tailor roducts to meet c ustomer call for and are using a wide mixture of methods that include benchmarking with bear upon products, regular customer meetings, and even engaging market research companies to accumulate consumer feedback on their product range and after sales service. Two specific cases are worth mentioning. Escorts Limited, an automobile manufacturing company, based on the feedback from customers and dealers, changed the delivery travel guidebook to ensure safe and quick delivery.Similarly, J. K. Synthetics, based on feed back from customer meetings, focused on standardization of quality parameters, and started after-sales service. This resulted in the sales rise from 220 tonnes in first take out of 1995 to 632 tonnes in the last quarter of the same year, an impressive growth in the sales by threesome times the previous value. According to a report published in Business Today (1998), some Indian companies are being guide by Yoshikazu Tsuda, a counselor at JUSE (Union of Japanese Sc ientists and Engineers) in their quest for total quality.Some of these companies are Sona Steering, Jai Bharat Maruti, GKN Invel, Asahi Float Glass, Brakes India, Lucas TVS, India Pistons, and India Piston Rings. Further, as stated in The Economic multiplication (1998), sixsigma technique, which is considered to be a unmingled TQM technique, is being practiced by several Indian companies notable among 324 authoritative achievement by an Indian company due to its practicing TQM principles is inform by Sridharan (1998a).The Indian company Sundaram Fasteners located near Chennai, India, has received the trump of Best Vendors Award consecutively for two years during 1996 and 1997, for its supply of metal radiator caps to customary Motors, USA. The award was pausen to the company for its consistent zero defects rate, 100 percent reliability in delivery schedules, and lowest price. The company is the only supplier to General Motors, USA from India out of its 3,000 supplier companies scattered all over the globe.In an exclusive interview covered by Premchander (1996), the managing director of seawards Brown Boveri Ltd (a partly owned subsidiary of Asea Brown Boveri Limited, Zurich) one of the very successfully operating multi-national companies in India, has stated that the managers have to extend time and resources on TQM. A historical achievement by an Indian company winning the coveted Deming Prize for Overseas Companies, for successful writ of execution of TQM, is reported by Sridharan (1998b).The Indian company Sundaram Clayton, has successfully turned its people into quality practitioners by the actual deployment of TQM tools, techniques, and systems. 38 ? time to market 22 ? corporate credibility. Indian quality scene ? a critical view The developments related to Indian companies, concerning quality of products and services, need to be examined on a comparative global scale. This would enable judgement of the progress made in improving quality.A surve y made in 1994 in which products and services from 41 countries were outranked by World Competitiveness Report indicates that the quality of Indian products and services is isappointing. According to the summary of results given in Skaria (1995), Indias rank based on different quality parameters is as follows (the rank out of 41 is given followed by the parameter) . 39? price to quality . 38 ? practice ofTQM . 40? customer orientation . 28 ? product liability . 39 ? time to innovate The report clearly suggested that on a global scale, Indian products and services are far from satisfactory, and have a distressing image.This is a major cause of worry for the corporate managers particularly for those looking for new markets, and ventures with oreign collaborators. One commonly quoted reason for getting away with low quality in India, is lack of pressure from consumers. Many managers are of the opinion that unless the customers are aware of their right to demand high quality, and insi st on companies to invest in quality, they continue to receive poor quality products. While the growth and spread of quality practices are slow in India, TQM has firmly seated itself in other Asiatic countries.In a cover feature on Quality in Asia reported in World Executive Digest (1996), it is stated that as Asia grapples with the challenge of lobalization, more and more companies seek ISO 9000 certification and adopt TQM. Companies in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and china are overtly involved in embracing practices of total quality to march ahead in global markets. According to The Economic discussion Unit (1996), which surveyed companies in Hong Kong on issues in the region. The growth of TQM across Asia merely means that new approaches are being developed in the region.These observations clearly suggest that India has to carefully watch the developments in the Asiatic region, as TQM principles have been successfully applied by several countries improving their ut put quality, attracting more foreign investment, and hence capable of restricting Indias share in the global market. What the quality experts say In spite of the hype created by the ISO 9000 bandwagon, which like a shot has more than 1,500 companies certified as such, quality is yet to emerge as a major strength of Indian products. Managers of Indian companies have still a lot to learn and implement in the image grammatical construction process based on quality.This is perhaps aptly summarized by a statement made by Philip Crosby as reported in The Times of India (1997). While addressing a 325 ews conference at the end of his weeklong enforce to India, Crosby has said that complacency is a major problem with the Indian management system. The managers of Indian industries should take this seriously. In an interview published in Business India (1997-98) James Harrington, a leading authority in the field of quality, has stated that India still has four emblems of companies those wi th poor performance, with good performance, with better performance, and with outstanding performance.Harrington remarks that companies with poor performance went bankrupt in other parts of the world, while those with good performance would follow them. But those with better performance will detain and those with outstanding performance would explode into the twentyflrst century. This indicates that India still has scope for swingeing products, and bad performance, which need to be immediately curbed. It is pointed out by Sukumar (1998) that TQM continues to baffle corporate India, as evident by the different interpretations made by each person in the industry about what is TQM.It was observed during the Sixth Quality Summit organized by the Cll in New Delhi, that TQM means anything and everything depending on the individuals perspective, politics, and paradigms. During the summit as many as 9 different definitions were presented by the speakers about what constitutes TQM. This m eans people in the corporate sector have no consensus about the concept of TQM and it could be a deterrent in its implementation. In another survey conducted by Arun et al. (1998) with regard to ISO certified companies interesting observations were made about implementing TQM in a company.taboo of 17 companies that were surveyed, managers in seven companies said that though they believe in TQM they do not know how to implement it. The survey further revealed that the long term supplier elationship, an essential member for successful implementation of TQM, has not the implementation of TQM were found to be continued dependence on tralatitious incentive schemes, numerical targets, performance rating, slogans for improving productivity, and not identifying and providing the right type of training for each and everyone as demanded for every Job.The survey concludes that if all these factors are not mitigated a company may continue as ISO certified but not be recognized as a TQM compan y. Comments and conclusion The various surveys independently conducted by researchers and business ublications have revealed that awareness on quality of products and services has picked up in India. With quality based competition intensifying, Indian industries and business people are showing raw interest in improving the quality of products through TQM.A number of organizations, private and Government are actively propagating TQM through a variety of training and educational programs. TQM has proved to be a vital ingredient for success, and now has its permanent roots in the mission and vision of the Indian corporate sector. However, based on common observations the requirements for quality to succeed in India can be summarized as ollows . a strong consumer movement . a sincere and committed drive by the corporate sector to storage area quality as the main focus . trict enforcement of standards by the regulatory bodies and authorities . avoidance of multiple grading of quality in products, like export quality, first grade, seconds, import rejects, etc. . setting an example in adhering to high quality performance and output, before pointing to others. While TQM no doubt has enabled the Indian companies to improve the quality of products and services, the international market demands still higher uality levels to give due recognition and acceptance.