Introduction
Management is the process where activities are coordinated in a business to meet an organization’s goals and objectives. In the changing world with competition, there is need to adopt policies and strategies that facilitate efficiency and effectiveness in all processes. Total quality management is a management tool which aims at ensuring that all processes in a business contribute positively to the overall conduct of the business.
TQM has both hard and soft parts. Soft parts consider the contribution of employees and the relations that they have with their employer. On the other hand, hard policies are more focused on physical assets which are used for production of goods and services (Paley 19). This paper will compare and contrast TQM policies adopted by Toyota Motor Company and Emirates Airlines.
Brief history of the Two Companies
Both Toyota and Emirates Airlines are more or less in the same industry; transport industry. Emirates Airline is an international airline company that is spreading to various countries. Currently, it has over 100 destinations. It is the major airline in Middle East and the national airline for Dubai, Unites Arabs emirates. It is a sub-subsidiary of Dubai Investment Company, through The Emirates Group.
The company was incorporated in the year 1985 as an international flight company and made the first flight to Dubai-Karachi on 25 October 1985. It was incorporated with the assistance of the government of Dubai’s royal family but the intervention of the government was limited.
Toyota is a multinational company found in Japan and it is the leading automobile car makers and seller in the world. It was incorporated in 1937; its founder is Kiichiro Toyoda. According to fortune global survey 500 of 2008, it was the fifth largest company in the world.
The company is structured in a no extra ordinary way and has departments like any other multinationals in the world; however the achievement of the company has made it different in performance a thing that proves that something extra happens. In 2008, it was able to surpass General motor company as the world largest automobile seller in the world. What has made the company go this far?
The answer is in the quality of its management and the interaction of brand as well the loyalty that it derives from its customers. The number of employees in the company stands at 320,590 distributed in different parts of the world (Black 20).
Hard T.Q.M.
Emirate Airlines operate in a fast changing air line industry where there has been an increased competition. One of the most recent is low cost services. On the other hard, due to globalization, there has been an influx of international airline companies fighting for the same market. In the efforts of ensuring that the company has remained competitive, it has embarked on massive capital investments.
By the year 1987, the company had expanded its destinations to reach eleven in total. It is one of the few start ups that recorded a break even at the first year of service. The earlier airline that operated in the area was Gulf airline; the airline was affected by the Gulf war and Emirate airline so enjoyed the benefit of all this.
Being in the plane industry, the company has increased its number of planes and the sizes of the planes; those planes that carry passengers have been refurbished and made to look more modern. In the efforts of surviving low cost competition, the company has made large planes which are used to ferry a large portion of people; this helps in enjoying economies of scale and thus the company can operate as a low cost.
The company has embarked on massive research to ensure that it knows the expectations of its customers and align its service to the needs. It is opening up virgin areas with its operations and collaborations with airlines of other nations.
Toyota Company has embarked on resource development especially in technology development. The technology has ensured that the company produces goods which are sensitive to the need of modern motor industry. The company produces one of the most efficient automobiles.
The vehicles are also comfortable to compete with companies like Mercedes, BMW, and Fords among others. In the various countries, it has embarked on making warehouses and garages which handle their products in a professional manner (Hino 12).
Soft TQMs
Soft policies consider human resources of a company. It aims at empowering them conduct their business with efficiency and become more productive. Emirates Airlines has been increasing its employee base. It ensures that it trains its employees to make their services better. This is on current trends in business world and the changes that the industry is going through.
In the fiscal year that ended on March 2010, the company had employed a total of 36,652 employees all over the continent. The performance of the company has been on a gradual increase; in the year 2009/ 2010, the passengers that used the online were 27.4 million, up from 22.7 million reported in 2008–09, the load cargo in the same period increased by 12.2% to 1,580,000 tons up from 2008–09: 1,408,000 tons.
Toyota Company has embarked on international fetching of employees. It employs from all over the world and maintains the team through appropriate appraisal and reward system. Graduates are integrated into the system by a graduate trainee procedure. This is where graduates undergo two year training in Toyota College before they are integrated in the system.
When they get into the system, they continue with further on job training and only given targets after the trainers are aware that they can perform effectively. In making decisions, the company engages all staffs. This is where they give their field experiences and recommendations on varying issues (O’Connor 44-56).
Conclusion
Total quality management (TQM) consists of competitive moves and business approaches aimed at producing successful performance; it is management’s “game plan” for running the business, strengthening a firm’s competitive position, satisfying the customers, the stakeholders, share holders, and the staffs. It seeks to develop the way into which all those that are a party to the business get satisfied.
It aims at going a step further and satisfying the customers beyond their expectations. There is a lot of focus on the customer; the customer is the greatest asset that an organization can have. To get customers’ loyalty is every business dream and target.
Comparing the Toyota and Emirates strategies, it is clear that both of them have adopted a TQM system which is acting to their advantage. They are both enjoying benefits brought about by TQM, which include efficiency in their processes, increased customer satisfaction, competitiveness, and customer satisfaction.
Works Cited
Black, Richard. Organizational. Boston: Universal publishers, 2003.
Hino, Satoshi. Inside the mind of Toyota: management principles for enduring growth. Tokyo: Productivity Press, 2006.
O’Connor, Patrick. Total Quality Management (Book). Quality & Reliability Engineering International [serial online]. April 1989; 5(2):183.
Paley, Norton. The manager’s guide to competitive marketing strategies. London: CRC Press. 1999