Quality Improvement

Quality Improvement

Introduction

In the changing context and the integration of market on a global platform has resulted in drastically increasing competition. Therefore, it is becoming essential for every organization to overlook the quality of its production. Companies are competing with each other on an edge to edge basis and; therefore, an organization required maintaining its competitive advantage by retaining its customers and providing them optimal quality. This quality is a drive through of maintaining quality in every operation of the business (Marshall & Sullivan, 2009). There are several factors, which are needed to be considered while studying the quality improvement of a particular organization. Hence, this paper is structured to examine the quality improvement methodologies and tools in an organization (Goetsch & Davis, 2010).

Discussion

Performance Improvement Methodologies

As the world is globalizing, the concern of organizations in ensuring quality in all of their business operations is enhancing. However, a number of methodologies have been discovered over time which ensures quality, some of them are as follows:

Six Sigma

The pioneer of six sigma is Motorola, and this process improvement methodology is subjected to variance reduction. This variance reduction ultimately results in problem solving approach that improves output quality (www.businessballs.com, 2003).

Lean Thinking

This is another methodology of process improvement, and it strives to reduce waste in operations. This waste reduction improves business performance by improving workflow and the processes (www.businessballs.com, 2003).

Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management is the widely used performance improvement methodology which every organization is now striving to adopt. This improves the quality of the service provider and ensures appropriate quality in every element which contributes in the final product or service (Marshall & Sullivan, 2009).

Methodology used for the Organization Quality Improvement Plan

The methodology used for the organization's quality improvement plan is Six Sigma. Six Sigma has been recognized in playing a vital role in improving business and quality performance (www.abahe.co.uk, 2006). It is certified by ISO quality standards. It has been selected as the performance measurement methodology because of its various reasons. Six sigma not only drive process improvement, its results are also based upon statistics, which ensures authenticity and reduce bias. Secondly, it measures business results with a level of confidence. It helps the organization to set strategies and prepare the operations for uncertainty. The most important quality of applying Six Sigma in an organization is that it removes waste, defects and errors from the organization and improves the quality of the processes (www.businessballs.com, 2003).

Information Technology Application

It has increasingly become crucial for an organization to effectively integrate information system in its practices to improve performance (McCaffery, et.al, 2003). Information Technology includes many items such as software application, network security and operations, computer hardware, application system management and database management to improve efficiency in managing the organization's processes and information. However, when it comes to implementing and ensuring quality standards in the organization, regulatory authorities are habitually subjected to pressure (Goetsch & Davis, 2010).

The object oriented technology leads to the linkage of the information technology to the components of the quality management ...