Training for Quality

Clive E. Hoare

1994 Training for Quality

doi: 10.1108/09684879410064329

Warns that in TQM, there is a danger of losing sight of the original motives that prompted the endeavour in the first place. The TQM initiative can become the end, rather than the means to the end, and the participants’ lives made miserable. Explores some human aspects behind TQM failures. Aims at two categories, the person who is about to start a TQM initiative and the one who has witnessed a failed initiative. Questions the motives for starting a TQM programme.

Jaideep G. Motwani; Mary L. Frahm; Yunus Kathawala

1994 Training for Quality

doi: 10.1108/09684879410064338

Argues that organizations are in the midst of a competitive revolution and quality improvement is an important factor in the quest to remain competitive. Companies are realizing they need to initiate a quality improvement programme and that training is a critical variable in the success of that programme. Improvement involves change, and training prepares employees for the change by providing the skills needed to work as a team member, communicate effectively, and identify and solve problems. A quality training programme requires certain elements for it to be successful: a change in the company’s culture; support of top management; a strategy to guide the company; communicating to employees the reason for quality improvement and how the change will affect them; providing the proper training and providing it at the proper time; and evaluating the training process.

Anoop Patel

1994 Training for Quality

doi: 10.1108/09684879410064347

Presents survey results of training for quality in manufacturing companies in Wales. Six geographical areas – Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Llandudno, Shrewsbury and Llandrindod Wells, in Wales, were selected for investigation. A high response rate indicates a “renaissance” in quality in manufacturing in Wales. Quality is recognized by many organizations in Wales and results show that companies are beginning to address training in quality requirements. The Wales Quality Centre is used by a large percentage of the companies surveyed.

P.B. Beaumont; L.C. Hunter; D.M. Sinclair

1994 Training for Quality

doi: 10.1108/09684879410064356

Examines a Japanese‐owned customer organization in Britain which has adopted Kaizen (continuous improvement) programmes in order to discover what effect this has had on the internal organization of its suppliers. With a particular interest in HRM and workforce training, uses a questionnaire and case studies to illuminate the changes made in supplier organizations and the mechanisms which support these developments. The evidence suggests that 63 per cent of supplier organizations studied have made changes, with the leading changes being made in the areas of quality management and workforce training as they have become more open to examination by the customer organization and with the increased emphasis on quality. Concludes that increasing adoption of Kaizen or TQM by customer organizations has implications for personnel and HRM functions in supplier organizations, and that the traditionally self‐contained boundaries of companies will become less rigid.

Amir Hamzah; Samuel Ho

1994 Training for Quality

doi: 10.1108/09684879410064365

Suggests that, in today’s economy, competition is greater than ever. For small and medium industries (SMIs) to continue to survive and grow, the quality of their goods and services is of paramount importance. In the 1990s, two main subjects on quality capture the attention of most businesses in the world – namely the ISO 9000 Quality Management Standard and total quality management (TQM). Aims to find out what is so special about ISO 9000 and TQM and why it is necessary for SMIs to acquire them. In 1992, the Japan International Co‐operation Agency sent a team to study the Quality Improvement Programme in Malaysia, a report of which was published in January 1993 with recommendations for SMIs. Details the findings and attempts to survey the current thinking and development of TQM. Establishes the rationale for achieving TQM through a Quality Improvement Practice (QIP) at the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM). Finally, suggests a model (SIRIMEX) for providing training and helping to implement TQM in SMIs.

John G. Koenigsberger

1994 Training for Quality

doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000004313

The information technology industry is gradually coming to realize that it is not immune from the commercial pressures which, traditionally, have been the major drivers towards quality products and services. But the pressures differ from one type of operation to another, from one part of an organization to another and, certainly, from one country to another. Describes how these issues have been addressed, consolidated and internally marketed in order to maintain the momentum towards a quality culture.