aiou-ass1 5575 autumn2014

ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

(Commonwealth MBA/MPA Programme)

Course: Quality Management (5575) Semester: Autumn, 2014

Level: COL MBA / MPA Programme Total Marks: 100

ASSIGNMENT No. 1

by

FAISAL SAFDAR KHAN

ROLL NO. AW565146

Assignment #1 Roll No. AW565146Code 5575 (Faisal Safdar Khan)

Q.1 Describe the meaning of quality in its true spirit for a services organization? How the

quality can be judged from a customer’s viewpoint; discuss with the perspective of fitness

to standard and fitness for use. (20)

QUALITY

The term "quality" is expressed by the ISO definition: "The totality of features and

characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied

needs". In other words, we can say that a product has good quality when it "complies

with the requirements specified by the customer or client".

Quality can also be defined as "delivery of reliable information within an agreed span of

time under agreed conditions, at agreed costs, and with necessary aftercare". The

"agreed conditions" should include a specification as to the correctness and accuracy of

the data which is directly related to "fitness of use" and which may differ for different

applications. Many laboratories work according to established methods and procedures

which are not readily changed and have in-built default specifications. Moreover, not all

future uses of the data and reports can be foreseen so that specifications about

required precision and accuracy cannot even be given. Consequently, this aspect of

quality is usually left to the discretion of the laboratory. However, all too often the

embarrassing situation exists that a laboratory cannot evaluate and account for its

quality simply because the necessary documentation is lacking.

According to Demming, “Quality may be defined as an excellent product or services that

fulfills or exceeds our expectations”. Quality can be quantified as:

Q = P / E,

where Q is Quality, P is Performance and E is Expectation(s).

QUALITY FOR A SERVICE ORGANIZATION

Quality can be determined in service industry by a number of dimensions, few of them

are:

Accuracy

Completeness

Timeliness

Courtesy

Friendliness

Aesthetics

Quality Management Page 1 of 28


Service Providers’ knowledge

Reputation

So, quality in service delivery may be gauged by the customer / end-user satisfaction or

dissatisfaction communicated through the feedback, complaints and / or suggestions, if

any. We will discuss this aspect of quality in more detail in the following paragraphs with

regard to the “fitness of standards” and “fitness for use” perspectives.

Fitness to Standards

It is the quality of a product / service as per its specifications, considered by the

manufacturer / designer. In other words the quality according to this perspective can be

defined as “conformance to the specifications”

The quality is therefore checked by comparison between the output and the

specifications. Fitness to standards can be achieved / checked by following methods:

Standardization;

Statistical quality control;

Inspection.

Standardization is the set of actions taken for the product / service and the process to

be clearly identified, e.g. a set of written procedures. The classical test for checking

whether standardization has taken place is: "If the people go, do the procedures stay?"

Inspection is a simple mean by which the items are sorted. Good items are kept and

bad ones are dropped. We can decide to check all the products (total inspection) or only

some of them (statistical control).

Drawbacks:

Inspectors are considered as "the enemy" by the workers

Inspections do not add any value;

Conformance to specifications does not mean conformance to needs.

Based on this last drawback, the following definition, i.e. Fitness for Use was

introduced.

Fitness to Use

A product / service is deemed as of quality if it performs as expected not as specified.

The difference is between the intended use of a product (its specification) and its real

use. In other words quality may be defined as “conformance to the expected use”.



A screwdriver is specified for a given size. We generally want to use the same

screwdriver for any kind of screws, and maybe for opening a can of paint.

The fitness of use is difficult to reach since this use may vary over customers and time.

It may be checked by market research / contact. Here we enter the world of marketing.

The only way is to ask the consumer and customer feedback plays the role.

Disadvantages:

Inspectors are considered as "the enemy";

Inspections do not add any value

"Fitness of use" assumes that definitions of the specifications are "consumer based".

Fitness of use consequently requires fitness to (the new) specifications and therefore

also requires inspections.



Q.2 Elaborate the role of leadership in implanting the total quality management program in

an organization. What critical issues leadership has to tackle while implementing the

quality program in a manufacturing concern? Support your answers with real time

example. (20)

HAZARD



Q.3 The quality begins with the customer and ends on the customer. Provide logical

justifications about this statement. How far it has concern with the customer

relationship program and why? Support your answer with any multinational

corporation operating in Pakistan. (20)

RISK MANAGEMENT



Q.4 Quality management program and strategies cannot be developed and implemented in

isolation. Do you agree with this statement. What critical success factors you consider to

be the most important to address from human resources perspective during quality

implementation phase? (20)

EMERGENCY

Responsibilities



Q.5 Why ISO certification is important for both service and manufacturing organizations?

Select an organization and guide through the initial steps in the certification process. Help

the organization to make a decision regarding ISO certification with reference to the

strengths and drawbacks of ISO, as to whether or not certification would be

advantageous. (20)

MOBILIZATION


aiou-ass1 5575 autumn2014

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