Total Quality Management Summary Persuasive Essay Example

developed a disciplined integrated planning system.

It encourages employees and managers at all levels within its business and relies on trams given the specific task of setting objectives and devising action plans which are reviewed by the corporate steering committee. In an organisation where all work begins with a focus on the customer, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company recognises that the very first step in a quality process involves placing people in roles they are most likely to be successful in.Benchmarking is a powerful management tool because it overcomes "paradigm blindness—"The way we do it is the best because this is the way we've always done it. " Benchmarking opens organisations to new methods, ideas and tools to improve their effectiveness. It helps crack through resistance to change by demonstrating other methods of solving problems than the one currently employed, and demonstrating that they work, because they are being used by others.Benchmarking offers a reliable and consistent way to measure the performance, productivity, and innovation, That will lead to the establishment of key measurements such as timeliness, quality and efficiency.

Benchmarking helps team leaders to monitor, maintain and improve quality levels Benchmarking within The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company increases the bar yearly as the hotel company wins numerous prestigious awards throughout the world, this including nineteen Five Diamond Hotel Awards and seven Five Diamond Restaurant Awards alone in 2008.The Ritz-Carlton is recognised for being the gold standard of hospitality and these awards are the evidence of the success due to TQM. Ritz-Carlton being a leader in benchmarking, have launched a leadership centre, training participants in knowledge and information that transcends all industries and all levels of leadership. Through

benchmarking The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company established a ‘Talent Benchmark’ for each position within the company – from executive, manager, supervisor and first-line service positions, enabling the company to achieve right first time.

Candidates can be compared to the appropriate benchmark, enabling The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to identify individuals who are most like their top performers and who exhibit the attributes and behaviours they wish to hire. Service-driven organisations know all too well that they have only one opportunity to make a good first impression. Organisations can no longer rely on traditional training methods to develop the quality behaviours that are necessary to be spontaneously produced in a service environment. A omprehensive total quality management programme begins with the quality selection of high-performing and service-oriented individuals and then developing them so that they implement the right quality behaviour. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is a proven leader in providing ‘world class’ guest service and has set the standard of excellence with a talent-based organisation. The culture at Ritz-Carlton requires quality in all aspects of the company's operations, with processes being done right the first time and defects and waste eradicated from operations.

Ritz-Carlton encourages cost of quality giving all employees the empowerment to do whatever it takes to provide “instant pacification”. To encourage empowerment of staff, any associate of the hotel is empowered to utilize up to $2000 of resources to satisfy a guest without any approval from top management. When associates identify any opportunities, they will use a GIA form. The manager will review the form immediately while the senior management team will analyse it. When the GIA form is completed, the incident is recorded into the guest

profile in the organisation’s system.

This ensures that the information is available for future reference. When the guest makes a future reservation, staffs are able to access the records of the guest in the system and take note of any special events that happened during the previous visits of the guest and take actions to ensure that the guest is accorded a flawless stay. In addition, a “Guardian Angel’ is assigned to the guest, where the Guardian Angel takes ownership of the guest’s stay, from arrival to departure to ensure that the guest’s stay is flawless and that the same problem does not happen again.Leadership is a key element in successful implementation of TQM, with a preferred leadership style of a participative one, so that staff may be involved in the design of the specific system elements and for managers to be influential role models.

Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, raising a person's performance to a higher standard, building a personality beyond its normal limitation. - Peter DruckerTo evaluate and improve personal leadership and involvement at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Senior Management circulates the employee satisfaction survey to obtain feedback from employees on their views of senior Leadership Management. Questions asked in the survey include: To what extent are the organisation’s values supported by the actions of the Senior Management Team. The Senior Management Team also established certain measurements to evaluate and improve the Senior Leader’s involvement and overall impact.

For example, the team established several ways to measure the various components that are in the interest of the organisation such as financial, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction and performance. Because of the

responsiveness and respect within the team, Senior Management continues to be effective role models for the employees. A successful TQM environment requires a committed and well-trained work force that with everyone participating fully in quality improvement activities. Such participation is reinforced by reward and recognition systems which emphasize the achievement of quality objectives.On-going education and training of all employees supports the drive for quality.

Employees are encouraged to take more responsibility, communicate more effectively, act creatively, and innovate. As people behave the way they are measured and remunerated, TQM links remuneration to customer satisfaction metrics. Ritz-Carlton developed strategies to encourage employee involvement and commitment in improvement and innovation. Leaders at all levels of the hotel are to encourage and motivate the involvement of their staffs in order to further their development.Senior management has the Pride & Joy initiatives organised to encourage employee involvement and commitment throughout the hotel.

Leaders are assigned ownership of each pride and joy initiatives and the owners together with their team members are responsible for defining the processes needed for implementing each of he initiatives, designing a control for this process and determining the measures for evaluating the effectiveness of these initiatives. To encourage teamwork in improvement and innovation, the management established several initiatives such as Quality improvement team, special project team and cross training nd job rotation, Thus providing great synergy within each department, as well as the hotel as a whole. Business’ try to bring together different pieces of our operations to accomplish a more productive output. In bringing these areas of operation together, we should focus on the most important factor to success, and that is synergy. Synergy

can best be defined as the interaction of two or more agents so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. The importance of concentrating on forming strong synergy amongst areas of operation in business is directly related to maximizing productivity and efficiency.

The better synergy two elements have together, the more productive and efficient those operations will run. The more efficient and productive an operation is run, the more profits will result. "You see, every employee, regardless of their position, has the right to have a purpose -- not just the leadership. And if you don't do this, it's immoral.

" - Horst Schulze With dedicated and hardworking employees who are vital to the success of the company, Ritz-Carlton introduced an Incentive Awards Scheme to recognise and honour these employees who have exceeded their expectation and who have surpass their highest goals.Rewards such as Prestigious Travel Awards that include accommodation and breakfast at any Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Currency and The Ritz-Carlton Spa Experience Awards, with massages, facials, steam rooms and relation lounges. Continuous improvement of all operations and activities is at the heart of TQM. Once it is recognized that customer satisfaction can only be obtained by providing a high-quality product, continuous improvement of the quality of the product is seen as the only way to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction.

As well as recognizing the link between product quality and customer satisfactionIn 1992 when Ritz-Carlton won the Baldrige Award, it was an acknowledgment that Ritz-Carlton was an exemplary performer in the pursuit of excellence and an impetus for further improvement. Associates, particularly those who have high levels of

customer contact participation, besides attending daily line-up, training and daily reinforcements are required to participate in intense problem solving training such as GLOW and LEAP, which had been specially designed to give staffs the skill and confidence in delighting customers. When interacting with customers, staffs are trained to read their well-being and level of delight.Both management and line staffs meet weekly to discuss issues related to their particular tactics. By doing so, the management is trying to unleash daily the energy, creativity, productivity and improvement of all the employees through their quality approach.

The employees who had to carry out these tactics in their daily jobs will continue to look for ways to improve on the tactics. This can clearly be seen in an employee who upon realizing that one of the guests at a function was experiencing cough fits, prepared a tray of hot tea and water and brought it to her.The guest was delighted. Because the waitress had anticipated her need and acted on it, her creativity had resulted in the organisation preparing those trays as one of the best practices in anticipating guests’ needs. Now, any employee can collect those trays which are prepared daily to serve them to guests who do not feel well.

With continuous improvement there is also a strong emphasis on prevention rather than detection, and an emphasis on quality at the design stage. The customer-driven approach helps to prevent errors and achieve defect-free production.When problems do occur within the product development process, they are generally discovered and resolved before they can get to the next internal customer. Quality of the delivery process is vital to obtain the

best outcome of the and presentation of the product. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company has succeeded immensely with the combination of genuine quality customer service and the implementation of procedures and policies resulting in a positive delivery process towards each single customer that walk in their doors.

All employees are chosen for their love of hospitality and serving ladies and gentlemen, thus providing the warmth and genuine caring service that Ritz-Carlton is notorious for. Procedures then follow with the infamous Motto, Credo and the three steps of service— “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen” The Ritz-Carlton is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission. We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambience.The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the sense, instils well-being, and fulfils even the unexpressed wished and need of our guests. A warm and sincere greeting.

Use the guest’s name, if and when possible. Anticipation and compliance with guest needs. Fond farewell, Give guests a warm goodbye and use theirs names, if and when possible. The measurable impact of the company’s collective quality efforts have resulted in stabilising great results from all aspects of the business that, in turn, increases profit.

Ritz-Carlton decreased their turnover from over 55 per cent in 1991 to under 25 per cent in 2002. Remarkably customer defects decreased from 25 per cent in 1991 to 7 per cent in 1994; 4. 9 per cent in 1997, 3 per cent in 1998, and 1 per cent in 2000. And for every 1 per cent increase in customer satisfaction, the

company has been able to track a 2. 5 per cent increase in revenue per available room. Consider that the average luxury hotel chain has grown 1.

8 percent annually over the past five years, while the Ritz-Carlton has grown an average 12. percent annually in that same timeframe. This is due to the culture embedded into the Ritz-Carlton—a Total Quality Management Culture. “People need to understand the economics of quality .

... When you don’t satisfy all of the customers all of the time it can cost you a fortune.

So we found that the benefits more than outweighed any problems. A quality approach to running a business is the most cost-effective, least capital-intensive path to profitability”. - Patrick Mene Corporate director of quality at Ritz-CarltonThe company’s commitment to strive for quality is not a sometimes thing; it is ingrained in the culture, becoming incessantly a part of every day work life. Schulze who served until 2002 in various executive positions at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, including president, COO and vice chairman, sums up the importance of Perpetual Improvement and the search for the highest quality is incessant—"There are only three ways to improve an organisation:  one, capital infusion; two, luck; three, incessantly striving for improvement. And even if you have capital infusion, you still need incessant improvement.

Because it doesn't matter how good you are. If on a scale of 1 - 10, you're a 4 and your competition is a 7, it doesn't matter, because 99. 999 percent of all companies in the United States don't know how to improve. So who's the better company? It’s the one that continuously improves. " Schulze concluded

by declaring that if a company implements processes that can be tracked and continually improved when defects are found, it will prosper and the quality will incessantly multiply. "When you eliminate your defects, your product becomes better, and your costs go down.

In fact, researchers have found that the cost of your defects is higher than your profit, no matter what business you're in. " As proof that incessantly striving for the highest quality works, Schulze offered a final Ritz-Carlton example:  "We were the most expensive hotel in every location. In some locations, the next highest rate was $100 below us, yet we always had a higher occupancy. And guess what? Consumer Reports voted us as giving the most value received in the hotel business. We didn't do it by cutting costs -- we did it by continually improving the quality of every aspect of the business. Once it is recognized that customer satisfaction can only be obtained by providing a high-quality product and service, continuously improving the quality of the product and service is seen as the only way to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction.

As well as recognizing the link between product quality and customer satisfaction, TQM also recognizes that product quality is the result of process quality. As a result, there is a focus on and incessant improvement of the company's processes. This will lead to an improvement in process quality.In turn this will lead to an incessant increase in product quality, and to an increase in customer satisfaction.

Improvement cycles are encouraged for all the company's activities such as product development and the way customer relationships are managed. This implies

that all activities include measurement and monitoring of cycle time and responsiveness as a basis for learning and implementation from the improvement. Seeking opportunities for search for the highest quality. and the lessons learnt are similarly implemented in every dimension of the organisationIncessant quality enhancement, continuous improvement and a persistent strive for excellence is at the fore front of the Ritz-Carlton and also the employees individually goals each and every day. It is the basis of the ‘way of life’ at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Perpetual improvement (PI) of all operations and activities is at the heart of TQM. Perpetual Improvement, also known as Continuous Improvement is fundamental the total quality management process.

Providing a system, process or goal to find and address aspects of the organisation’s product, services and processes that limits and decreases the result from the desired.The lessons learnt from these improvements provide a knowledge and a basis to set target to increase these products, services and processes, enabling a business to perpetually improve and incessantly aim for the highest quality. Perpetual improvement (PI) is very important from the point of view of modern-day organisations. It is the elementary aspect, which determines the meeting or exceeding expectation level of the customers.

Of the many approaches towards Total Quality Management, perpetual improvement is in vogue today.It is a conceptual and a philosophical context which requires management and human resources commitment to adopt a perpetual improvement philosophy, through succinct management of all processes, practices and systems throughout the organisation to achieve effectiveness in the organisational performance and fulfilling or exceeding the community expectations. You can never be satisfied with the method used, because there

always can be improvements. Certainly, the competition is improving, so it is very necessary to strive to keep ahead of the game. Perpetual Improvement is about working smarter, not harder.Some companies have tried to improve by making employees work harder.

This may be counter-productive, especially if the process itself is flawed. Workers are often a source of continuous improvements. They can provide suggestions on how to improve a process and eliminate waste or unnecessary work. Perpetual Improvement stems from the belief that mistakes can be avoided and defects can be prevented. It leads to continuously improving results, in all aspects of work, as a result of continuously improving capabilities, people, processes, technology and machine capabilities.

Perpetual improvement must deal not only with improving results, but more importantly with improving capabilities to produce better results in the future. There are three major mechanisms of prevention: Preventing mistakes (defects) from occurring 2. Where mistakes can't be absolutely prevented, detecting them early to prevent them being passed down the value added chain 3. Where mistakes recur, stopping production until the process can be corrected, to prevent the production of more defects. Vina ~ Wine .

.. Tapas ... Art is constantly working to deliver industry leading quality services.

Vina’s philosophy of perpetual improvement is based upon Total Quality Management. Our philosophy puts Vina in a proactive mode concerning quality rather tan reactive. Vina’s quality assurance is based on the following vital activities Meeting customer requirements Reducing cycle times Improvement teams Reducing service costs Improving administrative systems Process improvement Schulze hammered home in a passionate presentation one primary leadership message— “No matter what type of business you're running, you must practice continuous

improvement -- or your company will fail. We can conclude that the ten core concepts, incessantly aiming for the highest quality put together with Perpetual Improvement are key in ensuring the success of TQM in an organisation and that all levels of the organisation, including management, team leaders as well as staff are a huge part in developing these elements in the work place. Without these elements, the business entities cannot be successful TQM implementers.

It is very clear from the above discussion that TQM without involving integrity, ethics and trust would be a great remiss, in fact it would be incomplete.Training is the key by which the organisation creates a TQM environment. Leadership and teamwork go hand in hand. Lack of communication between departments, supervisors and employees create a burden on the whole TQM process. Last but not the least, recognition should be given to people who contributed to the overall completed task.

Hence, lead by example, train employees to provide a quality product, create an environment where there is no fear to share knowledge, give credit where credit is due and continually striving for the highest quality is the motto of a successful TQM organisation.References The Ritz-Carlton Company (2008) The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company [Internet] Available from: http://corporate. ritzcarlton. com [accessed 28 August 2008] Johnson, W. C.

, Chvala, R. J. (2006) Total Quality in Marketing. [Internet] Available from: http://books.

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(2008) Total Quality Management [Internet] Available from: http://aminssuet. multiply. com/reviews/item/1 [accessed 31

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