QUALITY, QUALITY PRACTICE AND TRAINING - A LEE-WAY TO GHANA "VISION 2015"

Quality is an exciting and rapidly changing field. The quality revolution has moved from manufacturing into services, governmental operations, and educational institutions – and indeed into the minds of consumers. Career opportunities for bright individuals with a strong quality focus in business and engineering are endless. Most business now expect people they interview for entry – level positions to understand the principles of total quality.

It is not long in the study of this social discipline before one begins to see the broad range of application of quality concepts in everyday life. In order to mimic the strategies of improving quality in business and in the lives of the people of any nation, the pioneering works of Drs Joseph Juran and W. Edwards Deming in the Japanese ‘Quality’ revolution is a cue to follow. A significant part of their work focussed on the management of quality, rather than on purely technical issues. Managing quality transcended preventing defects and led to the notion that all business processes could be improved continually, resulting not only in better quality, but improved productivity. The Japanese integrated quality into their management practices and developed a culture of continuous improvement and the rest as they say, is history.

If Japan can…..why cant we?

With regards to the current situation of our country and the economy, there is no need to re- invent the wheel. The basic question now is ‘if Japan can…..why cant we? The economic goals of Ghana have been spelt in our vision 2015 document. The overall objective is for Ghana to attain the level of a, ‘Middle Income Earning Country by the end of the year 2015’. It has become evident that in the 21st century, quality will increasingly be expected to make a greater contribution to national development.

Therefore, in pursuance of the national ‘vision 2015’, it is apparent that efforts should be driven not only towards better quality products and services but also improved productivity. One of the major tasks to achieve is to export more of our traditional and non-traditional exports. This can be achieved if we have competitive goods and services to trade in. We can export more if we can gain access to markets of Europe, America and Asia. Having competitive goods and services on the global markets requires that goods and services meet customer requirements in respect of specification, delivery and price. In addition, access to the Global Markets imply adherence to standards and trade regulation in respect of Health and Safety of People and the Environment.

These issues are the subject content of quality, quality practice and training. The principal indicators here are technical-quality, cost and delivery, and a people with a statistical way of thinking and a culture for quality. The goal to achieve is to change the perspectives in management and to bring out a generation of people, systems and processes that would fulfil the desires of Ghana ‘vision 2015’. To this end there is no better place to start a revolution than at the very rudiments of our managerial and technological societies. There is the need to move from the traditional culture to a culture of Total Quality - a culture that optimises quality and productivity. This leads to the philosophy of continuous improvement which the Japanese call ‘Kaizen’.

Kaizen - a philosophy; a way of life

Kaizen is a philosophy, a way of life that subsumes all business activities. Kaizen strategy has been called the ‘’single most important concept in Japanese management- the key to Japanese competitive success’’. In any organisation, continuous improvement in all areas of business such as cost, meeting delivery schedules, employee safety and skill development, suppliers relation etc. all enhance the quality of the organisation. Thus any activity directed towards improvement falls under kaizen umbrella. Kaizen leads to new product development.

(L'articolo continua sotto al box in cui ti segnaliamo che alla collana di libri QualitiAmo si è aggiunto un nuovo titolo).

LA COLLANA DEI LIBRI DI QUALITIAMO

"La nuova ISO 9001:2015 per riorganizzare, finalmente, l'azienda per processi" - Si aggiunge alla collana dei libri di QualitiAmo il primo testo che svela i segreti della futura norma.
Dalla teoria alla pratica: il secondo lavoro di Stefania Cordiani e Paolo Ruffatti spiega come migliorare la vostra organizzazione applicando la nuova norma attraverso i suggerimenti del loro primo libro
(Vai all'articolo che descrive il nuovo libro)

"Organizzazione per processi e pensiero snello - Le PMI alla conquista del mercato" - Da una collaborazione nata sulle nostre pagine, un libro per far uscire le PMI dalla crisi.
L’ideatrice di QualitiAmo e una delle sue firme storiche spiegano come usare con efficacia la Qualità.
(Vai all'articolo che descrive il primo libro)

Improvement in organisations may require organisational reform. Organisations need to change because the process of life itself is one of continuous change. Changes in the environment require that appropriate changes be made within organisations. To remain relevant, survive and meet new and emerging standards and demands placed on them organisations must remain continuously responsive to such demands. The things we need to consider for organisational change are Organisational learning and Capacity Building. In organisational learning, we expect the management system to provide a structured platform for establishing a learning culture within the organisation and, if applicable, across the partnering arrangements established by the organisation.

Defining a learning culture is not easy. However, the following examples are not exhaustive and they give a sense of the kind of environment required as the basis of a learning culture (a culture of opportunity) within the organisation.

• Recognise the importance of customers and suppliers, both internal and external
• Recognise the importance of communication both vertically within the organisation and horizontally through the business processes
• Recognise the importance and value of people to organisation
• Recognise the potentially huge resource within the totality of people
• Encourages people to submit opportunities to improve performance and prevent incidence of failure in performance
• Provide recognition for the individual who was the source of successfully implemented initiatives

Training and Skill in the Practice of Quality

Currently sporadic attempts are made to fill in the gaps in the quality infrastructure of our nation and the demand for quality products and services is on the increase. The missing link is the culture of quality which can only be found in the minds of people. In our manufacturing and service industries, the differences in the concepts and application of quality control, quality assurance, and total quality are not clearly understood and properly applied by most players in industry. Total Quality Management (TQM) principles have been criticised and labelled as a business fad and a flowed philosophy that will eventually fade away.

However, a number of objective studies have shown that TQM is alive and well and that its benefits far outweigh its weaknesses. There remains therefore the need for a professional body in our country to train and develop quality officers and to qualify practicing quality professionals. In the UK for example, this qualification is currently carried out by the Charter Quality Institute (CQI). The CQI has as its overall objective, ‘The Advancement of Quality Practice’. Other aims include: The provision of Training and Skill in the Practice of Quality. To attain its aim of providing Training and Skills in the Practice of Quality, the CQI works through a number of CQI Education Centres throughout the world. On the home front this gap is filled through a local CQI education centre - Applied Science and Quality Systems (ASQS). ASQS in partnership with Total Quality Training (TQT), Oxford), run the CQI professional courses by distance learning.

In order to build the capacity that would lead this nation into our vision 2015. ‘Organisational learning’ within the various sectors is paramount. The issues here are quality, quality training and quality practice. These provide a lee-way to our vision 2015 - the mechanism for a paradigm shift from the traditional culture to a culture that optimises productivity and quality.

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