Productivity and quality management MGT 463

Quality education and training cycle of

improvement

Quality education and training activities can be considered in the form of a cycle of
improvement (Figure), the elements of which are the following.

Ensure quality education and training is part of the quality policy Every organization
should define its quality policy in relation to education and training. The policy
should contain principles and goals to provide a framework within which learning
experiences may be planned and operated. This policy should be communicated to
all levels.

Establish objectives and responsibilities for quality education and training

When attempting to set quality education and training objectives three essential
requirements must be met:

1 Senior management must ensure that learning outcomes are clarified and
priorities set.
2.The defined education and training objectives must be realizable and attainable.
3 The main objectives should be ‘translated’ for all functional areas in the
organization.

Large organizations may find it necessary to promote a phased plan to identify

these.
The following questions are useful first steps when identifying quality education and
training objectives:

_ How are the customer requirements transmitted through the organization?

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Management Science Department
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad
Session 2009-10

Khalil Rehman Malik

Productivity and quality management MGT 463

_ Which areas need improved performance?

_ What changes are planned for the future?
_ What are the implications for the process framework?
Quality education and training must be the responsibility of line management, but
there are also important roles for the individuals concerned.

Figure: The quality traning cycle

Establish the platform for a learning organization

The overall responsibility for seeing that education and training is properly
organized must be assumed by one or more designated senior executives. All
managers have a responsibility for ensuring that personnel reporting to them are
properly trained and competent in their jobs. This responsibility should be written

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Management Science Department
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Session 2009-10

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Productivity and quality management MGT 463

into every manager’s job description. The question of whether line management
requires specialized help should be answered when objectives have been identified.
It is often necessary to use specialists, who may be internal or external to the
organization.

Specify education and training needs

The next step in the cycle is to assess and clarify specific quality education
and training needs. The following questions need to be answered:
_ Who needs to be educated/trained?
_ What competencies are required?
_ How long will the education/training take?
_ What are the expected benefits?
_ Is the training need urgent?
_ How many people are to be educated/trained?
_ Who will undertake the actual education/training?
_ What resources are needed, e.g. money, people, equipment, accommodation,
outside resources?
Prepare education/training programs and materials Senior management should
participate in the creation of overall programs, although line managers should
retain the final responsibility for what is implemented, and they will often need to
create the training programs themselves.

Quality training programs should include:

 The training objectives expressed in terms of the desired behavior.
 The actual training content.
 The methods to be adopted.
 Who is responsible for the various sections of the program?

Implement and monitor quality education and training

The effective implementation of quality education and training programs

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Session 2009-10

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Productivity and quality management MGT 463

demands considerable commitment and adjustment by the trainers and

trainees alike. Quality training is a progressive process, which must take
into account any learning problems of the trainees.

Assess the results

In order to determine whether further quality education or training is required, line
management should themselves review performance when training is completed.
However good the training may be, if it is not valued and built upon by managers
and supervisors, its effect can be severely reduced.
Review effectiveness of quality education and training Senior management will
require a system whereby decisions are taken at regular fixed intervals on:
_ The quality policy.
_ The education and training objectives.
_ The education/training organization.
_ The progress towards a learning organization.
Even if the policy remains constant, there is a continuing need to ensure
that new quality education and training objectives are set either to promote
work changes or to raise the standards already achieved.
The purpose of quality management system audits and reviews is to assess the
effectiveness of the management effort. Clearly, adequate and refresher training in
these methods is essential if such checks are to be realistic and effective. Quality
audits and reviews can provide useful information for the identification of changing
quality training needs.
The quality education/training organization should similarly be reviewed in the light
of the new objectives, and here again it is essential to aim at continuous
improvement. Quality training must never be allowed to become static, and the
effectiveness of the organization’s education and training programs and methods
must be assessed systematically.

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Management Science Department
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad
Session 2009-10

Khalil Rehman Malik

Productivity and quality management MGT 463

A systematic approach to education and

training for quality
Education and training for quality should have, as its first objective, an appreciation
of the personal responsibility for meeting the ‘customer’ requirements by everyone
from the most senior executive to the newest and most junior employee.
Responsibility for the training of employees in quality rests with management at all
levels and, in particular, the person nominated for the co-ordination of the
organization’s quality effort. Education and training will not be fully effective,
however unless responsibility for the deployment of the policy rests clearly with the
chief executive. One objective of this policy should be to develop a climate in which
everyone is quality conscious and acts with the needs of the customer in mind at all
times.

The main elements of effective and systematic quality training may be considered
under four broad headings:
_ Error/defect/problem prevention.
_ Error/defect/problem reporting and analysis.
_ Error/defect/problem investigation.
_ Review.

The emphasis should obviously be on error, defect, or problem prevention, and

hopefully what is said under the other headings maintains this objective.

Error/defect/problem prevention __________________

The following contribute to effective and systematic training for prevention of
problems in the organization:
1 An issued quality policy.
2 A written quality management system.
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Management Science Department
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad
Session 2009-10

Khalil Rehman Malik

Productivity and quality management MGT 463

3 Job specifications that include quality requirements.

4 Effective steering committees, including representatives of both
management and employees.
5 Efficient housekeeping standards.
6 Preparation and display of maps, flow diagrams and charts for all processes.

Error/defect/problem reporting and analysis ________

It will be necessary for management to arrange the necessary reporting
procedures, and ensure that those concerned are adequately trained in these
procedures. All errors, rejects, defects, defectives, problems, waste, etc. should be
recorded and analyzed in a way that is meaningful for each organization, bearing in
mind the corrective action programs that should be initiated at appropriate times.

Error/defect/problem investigation ________________

The investigation of errors, defects, and problems can provide valuable information
that can be used in their prevention. Participating in investigations offers an
opportunity for training in quality. The following information is useful for the
investigation:
_ Nature of the problem(s).
_ Date, time and place.
_ Product/service with the problem(s).
_ Description of the problem(s).
_ Causes and reasons behind the causes.
_ Action advised.
_ Action taken to prevent recurrence.

Review of quality training ________________________

Review of the effectiveness of quality training programs should be a continuous

process. However, the measurement of effectiveness is a complex problem. One
way of reviewing the content and assimilation of a quality training course or
program is to monitor behavior during quality audits. This review can be taken a
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Management Science Department
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad
Session 2009-10

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Productivity and quality management MGT 463

stage further by comparing employees’ behavior with the objectives of the quality
training program.
Other measures of the training processes should be found to establish the benefits
derived.

Education and training records ___________________

All organizations should establish and maintain procedures for the identification of
education and training needs and the provision of the actual training itself. These
procedures should be designed (and documented) to include all personnel. In many
situations it is necessary to employ professionally qualified people to carry out
specific tasks, e.g. accountants, lawyers, engineers, chemists, etc., but it must be
recognized that all other employees, including managers, must have or receive
from the company the appropriate education, training and/or experience to perform
their jobs. This leads to the establishment of education and training records.
Once an organization has identified the special skills required for each task, and
developed suitable education and training programs to provide competence for the
tasks to be undertaken, it should prescribe how the competence is to be
demonstrated. This can be by some form of examination, test or certification, which
may be carried out in-house or by a recognized external body. In every case,
records of personnel qualifications, education, training, and experience should be
developed and maintained. National vocational qualifications may have an
important role to play here.

At the simplest level this may be a record of tasks and a date placed against each
employee’s name as he/she acquires the appropriate skill through education and
training. Details of attendance on external short courses, in-house induction or
training schemes complete such records. What must be clear and easily retrievable
is the status of training and development of any single individual, related to the
tasks that he/she is likely to encounter. For example, in a factory producing
handmachined parts that has developed a series of well-defined tasks for each
stage of the manufacturing process, it would be possible, by turning up the
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Management Science Department
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad
Session 2009-10

Khalil Rehman Malik

Productivity and quality management MGT 463

appropriate records, to decide whether a certain operator is competent to carry out

a lathe-turning process. Clearly, as the complexity of jobs increases and managerial
activity replaces direct manual skill, it becomes more difficult to make decisions on
the basis of such records alone. Nevertheless, they should document the basic
competency requirements and assist the selection procedure.

8
Management Science Department
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad
Session 2009-10

Khalil Rehman Malik