Quality management has greatly developed from a basic business and statistical model that is centered on numerical quality control into a concept that includes a wide variety of subjects and concerns within an organization. This kind of quality management is known as Total Quality Management (TQM) and it dominates the existing generation of quality concepts.
The core concepts that lie behind TQM and are considered to be crucial in its successful implementation are clearly instituted and include client value satisfaction, constant improvement and complete organizational involvement. Despite this paradigm being very appealing and being used in many organizations with significant positive effects, the practicability of this idea remains questionable especially with the modern actuality of global markets and manufacturing entities.
Industrialization brought with much opening up of the economic and trade sectors of most countries in the world. The constant progressing in the industrial sector has also lead to merging of neighboring countries to form trade blocks that simplify the trading process.
Due to this, the global market has largely opened up in recent years and most companies and organizations have aim to advance their products to a global level. As a result of the large consumer base that the global organizations are expected to serve, their quality management slightly differs with that of the local organizations which have a much smaller consumer base.
In this paper, I will use a local electronic company, Sollatek Electronics Ltd to compare the total quality management against a global electronics company, Ametek, Inc. These two companies both deal with the manufacturing of electronic devices and electromechanical instruments such as voltage switchers, voltage stabilizers and uninterruptible power supplies.
Since every company’s goal is to have continuous growth as well as reduce its costs, it is essential to use total quality management so as to produce high quality products at a low cost and at the same time ensure that the customers are satisfied (Janakiraman & Gopal 2006).
The first point of comparison is the modes of production orientation which are seen to be similar in both companies. However a global company such as Ametek might end up extending their orientation to a point where dysfunctions begin to emerge. This is because it involves all operations and units in all the countries and thus automatically involves an apparently seem less set of potential designs. In addition, if Ametek came to UK and found that the local market is not competitive enough or is incompatible, it will be forced to link with other companies from overseas.
Market orientation is also be similar between global company Ametek and the local company Sollatek, but the diversity of customer necessities across various consumer markets means that customer satisfaction may be more difficult to achieve in the case of Ametek. This is especially so if the resources from the company are inadequate.
This is because the perceptions clients in regard to value are likely to differ more widely than in the case of Sollatek whose consumer base is within one country.
Cultural sensitivity is predominantly a great contributor to the opinion of customer value. The objective of a global company such as Ametek is to produce goods and services that are developed, manufactured and distributed under a global organization and yet they should be locally acceptable in every country that they have established a branch. Sollatek is rarely faced with such a challenging situation being in its home base and with a clear idea of what its clients expect from them.
The strategic concepts behind TQM are easily upheld in a local organization such as Sollatek, but in the case of a global organization such as Ametek there is need to enlarge the range to include the concerns of various purposes across numerous countries such as state power, cultural divisions, geography, and tax and currency concerns (Young & Ryun, 1995).
A successful quality management system in an organization brings the management together in a commitment of producing goods that ensure customer satisfaction. This is very important both in the local and global market as the ranking and dependability of an organization rely on the perceptions of its consumers.
Sollatek for example is ranked highly in the local market because of its steadfastness in producing reliable products. Managerial improvement ensures that protocols are being properly followed and the company targets are met on time. This leads to constant company improvement and hence attracts more clients and improves the position of the company in the perspective of its target consumers.
In conclusion, for the success of any company, total quality management is required as it acts as sufficient proof of the commitment the company has towards providing quality goods and services to its client base.
Reference List
Janakiraman, B.J, & Gopal, G. (2006). Total Quality Management Text and Cases. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Young, K. & Ryun, C. (1995). Global quality management: A research focus. Decision Sciences, 15, 37-52.