Developing a quality culture Flashcards
What does it mean if a business develops a quality culture ?
businesses make sure quality systems are a priority in a businesses values, beliefs and habits.
Requiring employees to be attentive and thorough in following the correct procedures with flexibility and initiative rather than full control
What is setting quality standards based on ?
Quality control - parts that conform to specifications used in production, processes and products that leave the system for customers, based on inspection and taking defects out
Quality assurance - A series of planned and systematic activities used to ensure quality requirements are always met and occurs after production, based on processes and building quality in
What does setting quality standards involve ?
1.Writing policies and procedures
2.Creating a framework to educate stakeholders on how the business operates and what to expect through:
writing instructions for every operations, complaints and grievances, recruitment and selection, how each operation is monitored/reviewed and finance operations
Quality control, benefits and drawbacks
It is a traditional method that involves checking and reviewing output, detecting defective output rather than preventing, sampling and removes sub-standard output through identification
Adv - minimised disruption to production, applies consistent quality standards
Dis - costly, conducted at end of production process where it may be too late, not compatible with modern production systems
Quality assurance, benefits and drawbacks
Aims to design a way products/services can be made to minimise standards not being met.
Adv
conducted at product/design/development stage, production process is well controlled and quality can be built in, reliable as there is less need to inspect production output
Dis - time-consuming to train staff and conduct quality assurance during tight deadline production process, high initial cost
What is managerial commitment ?
When managers set quality standards and must demonstrate this to all staff, ensuring employees embrace quality and feel they can directly contribute to keeping standards high
What is staff-buy-in ?
When employees are willing and committed to meeting business objectives and do not resist change
What are quality circles, advantages and disadvantages ?
Small groups of employees that meet regularly to discuss quality issues, investigate solutions and make recommendations
Adv - increased employee productivity, most efficient way to get to the root of quality issues
Dis - time-consuming and lack of manager support
partnerships with customers/suppliers, advantages and disadvantages ?
Adv - stakeholders feel their concerns are listened to, learn from mistakes, stakeholder trust, diversify products/services, ensures sustainability and allows businesses to gain a competitive edge
Dis - time-consuming and may spark agreement issues
What is the importance of transparent and open communication ?
1.Involves encouraging staff to own up to their mistakes so improvements can be made and blame can be avoided
2.Sharing information and ideas to develop quality culture
3.Employees, suppliers and other interested groups often judge the quality of an organisation by the communication the business has with them
