TO INCULCATE QUALITY CULTURE IN THE ORGANIZATION What is QUALITY?

Basically, Quality focuses on excellent products or services that fulfill or exceed our customers expectations. In the service sectors, Quality means meeting every requirement of our customers and exceeding them Other definitions of QUALITY Quality means getting everyone to do it right the first time. Therefore, when everybody is doing everything right the first time, nobody complains about anything or anyone anymore. The time is then ripe for the next stage of the quality revolution KAIZEN. Kaizen is the process of non-stop improvement of everything we do. It is a Japanese term consisting two characters : KAI means CHANGE and ZEN means GOOD, thus together it means IMPROVEMENT. With KAIZEN, everybody keeps finding better and much better ways of doing his or her jobs such as checking, communicating, managing, typing, etc. KAIZEN is something that we improve the right thing and make it better and better. Key elements of KAIZEN are quality, effort, involvement of all employees, willingness to change, and communication. Why we need QUALITY in services? The dimensions of quality service include the followings: - Time : How much time must a customer wait? - Timeliness : Will a service be performed when promised? - Completeness : Are all items in the order included? - Courtesy : Do frontline employees greet each customer cheerfully? - Consistency : Are services delivered in the same fashion for every customer, and every time for the same customer? - Accessibility and Convenience : Is the service easy to obtain? - Accuracy : Is the service performed right the first time? - Responsiveness : Can service personnel react quickly and resolve unexpected problems? In order to inculcate quality culture at the workplace: 1. Effective Communication : People in organizations typically spend over 75% of their time in an interpersonal situation; thus it is no surprise to find that at the root of a large number of organizational problems is poor communications. Effective communication is an essential component of organizational success whether it is at the interpersonal, intergroup, intragroup, organizational, or external levels. 2. Changing Mindset 3. Better to better : EXAMPLE: The 1995 Annual Report of Toyota says : We had the best car in the world. So what did we do? We changed it. We made it better. Chinese proverb, Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still. 4. Creativity 5. Management Commitment One of the mechanisms for the organization to inculcate quality culture at the workplace is by implementing a quality management system based on the ISO9000, like our University, we have implemented the quality management system based on the ISO9001:2000 Standard Requirements 1

ISO9000 : A set of standards for quality management and quality assurance systems developed by the International Standard Organization. They provide a framework for quality system development in all types of industries including service organizations. It is just purely a management system that will help us to run our business in a more organized and systematic manner which will lead to a more consistent in quality of the service that we deliver to our customers. The quality of any organization is determined by the satisfaction of its customers who get the services. We should not only focus on external customers, but also focus on internal customers. Any quality improvement is achieved by improving the processes of an organization. It is a continuous activity in which we have to search for a much better way. It focuses more on opportunities for improvement, rather than waiting for a problem to reveal opportunities. Elimination of a problem will reduce any future occurrence, thus, improve the processes of an organization.

If we take our activity as a process, then the process (the activity) requires inputs (information, materials), resources (people, equipment, space) and control (QMS) to produce outputs (Products and/or services). ORGANIZATION Clear direction. (Establishment of Quality Policy & Objectives). More efficient and effective operations. Is driven by measurable objectives at all relevant functions (results oriented). Minimize Non-Conformity Cost. (All staff have clear responsibilities and clear & systematic work procedures) STAFF/EMPLOYEE Have clear job responsibilities and authority, and ways of doing things. (Establishment of Manual of Work Procedures). Increase interaction and teamwork. CUSTOMER Feel more confident and assured. IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS Recognizing and acknowledging improvements (Analysis of Data, Quality Objectives, Complaints, etc.). Quality is not the responsibility of a department. Quality is everyones responsibility. 2