Leadership for Quality Improvement

1. Leadership for Quality Improvement Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jegak Uli

2. Introduction • The intention of this unit is to discuss leadership as it applies to the understanding & implementation of quality improvement. • In this regards, leadership has specific implications for the senior managers embarking on a quality journey. • This unit describes these implications and suggestions actions that senior managers can take to enhance the likelihood of success.

3. The relationship among these actions is shown graphically in Figure1

4. What is Leadership for Quality improvement? • When implementing quality improvement program, several fundamental activities must be accomplished by the senior management team. • These senior managers bear ultimate responsibility for the success of the organization and, by virtue of their positions, have the authority to set direction, establish policy, allocate resources, and select the markets in which the firm will participate. • These individuals are responsible to their customers, their employees, and ultimately their shareholders for the success of the enterprise.

5. Quality Management Skills • Quality management requires skills in both leadership and management. • The difference between these two skills sets is stated succinctly by Warren Bennis:“Leaders are people who do the right things, managers are people who do things right ….many are under-led and over-managed. They do not pay enough attention to doing the right things, while paying too much attention to doing things right.”

6. Distinction between Management & Leadership

7. Managing and Leading • To implement QI, managing to get results will share center stage with leading to improve systems. • The old roles of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling will be diminished. • In their place, we will find leaders who vision, align, empower, coach, and care.

8. Managing and Leading • CI of all products, services and processes is accelerated if everyone challenges the status quo every day. • Leader can set the stage for this challenge by developing answers to six fundamental questions:

9. Six Fundamental Questions: • 1. Why do we exist; what is our purpose (mission) • 2. What will we look like in the future? What do we want to become? (vision) • 3. What do we believe in, and what do we want everyone to abide by?

10. Six Fundamental Questions: • 4. What guidance will we provide to many individuals in our organization as how they should provide product and services to our customers? (policy) • 5. What are the long- and short-term accomplishments that will enable us to fulfill our mission and attain our visions? (goals and objectives) • 6. How are we going to move toward our vision and accomplish our goals and objectives? (methodology)

11. Leadership Framework • Answers to the first three of these questions form the cornerstones of the leadership framework. • The mission defines why the organization exists. • The visions show what the organization wants to create, and the core values explain how we want to act • The answers to the remaining three questions fill in the details and build on these cornerstones.

12. Why Do We Exist? • The question of why we exist is answered in the organization's mission statement. • This statement is comprehensive, easy to understand, usually one paragraph in length, and describes why an organization was created and its primary function. • The mission provides a clear statement of purpose to all employees as they perform their daily tasks.

13. Examples of Mission Ford Motor Company Mission: • Our mission is to improve continually our products and services to meet our customer's needs, allowing us to prosper as a business and to provide a reasonable return to our shareholders, the owners of our business.

14. More Example of Mission Imperial Oil, Ltd.: • [Imperial Oil] is a responsible and efficient developer of the country's natural resources and supplies a wide range of quality products and services, primarily under the ESSO brand.

15. More Example of Mission Canadian National Railways Mission: • To meet customers' transportation and distribution needs by being the best at moving their goods on time, safely, and damage-free.

16. A Well-articulated mission statement • These statements, when published and disseminated to employees throughout the organization and widely communicated to customers and the public at large, commit an organization internally and externally to a specific purpose. • A well-articulated mission statement also guides employees as to how they should manage their activities and sets a level of expectation among customers as to what they should get from this organization.

17. What Type of Organization Do We Want to Become? • The vision provides a description of what the organization will evolve into in the future and, like the mission statement, provides continuous guidance to employees at every level as to how they should manage their respective responsibilities. • Usually, the vision is drafted as soon as the mission statement is completed and is developed through the same collaborative process.

18. The Vision • The vision need not be described in precise financial or market terms. • Rather, the intent is to provide a broad description of what an organization can become if everyone's efforts are focused and successful. • The vision is less a dream, less a soft expectation of what is desirable, than a realistic picture of what is possible. • The vision states what the organization wants to become and where it wants to go. • This direction may be based on data regarding what is being achieved by others and what is possible for this organization.

19. Fatal flaw of a vision • Any of three flaws can be fatal to the process for building an inspirational vision: • (1) failure to have a genuine vision-one that is important, challenging, and at the same time realistic; • (2) failure to communicate the vision; • (3) failure to rally everyone's genuine support.

20. Tom Peters urges: • “Develop and live an enabling and empowering vision. • Ensure that the vision is at once • (1) specific enough to act as a 'tie breaker' (e.g., quality is more important. than volume) and • (2) general enough to leave room for the taking of bold initiatives in today's ever- changing environment.”

21. Develop an Enabling and Empowering Vision • 1. Effective visions are inspiring. • 2. Effective visions are clear and challenging-and involve excellence. • 3. Effective visions make sense in the marketplace and, by stressing flexibility and execution, stand the test of time. • 4. Effective visions must be stable but constantly challenged-and changed at the margin.

22. Develop an Enabling and Empowering Vision • 5. Effective visions are beacons and controls when all else is up for grabs. • 6. Effective visions are aimed at empowering our own people first, customers second. • 7. Effective visions prepare for the future but honor the past. • 8. Effective visions are lived in details, not broad strokes.

23. What's Important to Us? • Every organization operates with some behaviors being understood without ever being explicitly stated. • But why leave these things unstated if they are important to running the business? • Why not provide clear definitions of those important things, so everyone has a clear sense of the values of the organization?

24. Shared Values • But be careful. • State your true shared values, not a set of ideals that look good on posters and wallet-size laminated cards. • In fact, if stated values are inconsistent with realities, their posting will be a hindrance and will reveal the hypocrisy of the leadership team. • Values cannot merely be proclaimed; they need to be lived convincingly.

25. The following is an example of a credible set of corporate values: • People: Our people are the source of our strength. They provide our corporate intelligence and determine our reputation and vitality . Involvement and teamwork are our core human values. • Products: Our products are the end result of our efforts, and they should be the best in serving customers worldwide. As our products are viewed, so are we viewed. • Profits: Profits are the ultimate measure of how efficiently we provide customers with the best products for their needs. Profits are required to survive and grow. (Ford Motor Company)

26. How Do We Want Everyone to Work? • Organizations consist of many different individuals with many different opinions. • The "quality level" for the production and delivery of goods and services should not be left for everyone to determine individually. • Instead, provide a written quality policy and consider the elements listed and in the following example policy

27. Elements of Quality Policy Element Example Statement • Importance of quality Quality is first among equals • Quality competitiveness Best in class • Customer relations Meet customer's needs • Internal customers Quality extends to all segments • Work force involvement Our policy is to provide 40 hours of quality training annually to every employee • Quality improvement We will continuously improve our services

28. What Do We Have to Do? • Leaders must next move from the broad direction provided by mission, vision, value, and policy statements to declare what must actually be accomplished. • Unless these statements are translated into measurable performance targets, they will be little more than nice sets of words. • Goals cover the organization's broad intent by defining what is to be attained through sustained effort over the long term. • By contrast, objectives define what is to be achieved in a specified period of time.

29. The following are example goals for one company-Florida Power & Light Company • Consider how these goals contribute toward that vision, how progress toward the goals might be measured, and how the goals might challenge the organization. • 1. Improve customer satisfaction with sales and service quality: • a. by reducing customer complaints to be among the lowest in the electric utility industry, • b. by having adequate capacity to meet the needs of existing and future customers, and • c. by having service unavailability to be among the lowest in the industry.

30. The following are example goals for one company-Florida Power & Light Company • 2. Strengthen effectiveness in nuclear plant operation and regulatory performance: • a. by achieving nuclear plant availability to be among the highest in the industry , and • b. by improving nuclear safety through the achievement of reduced automatic plant shutdowns. ..to be among the lowest in the industry .

31. The following are example goals for one company-Florida Power & Light Company • 3. Improve utilization of resources to stabilize costs: • a. by improving quality , • b. by maintaining stable and reasonable prices, as compared to the CPI, while maintaining a fair rate of return for stockholders, and • c. by securing the safety of our employees and community.

32. Clear-cut, measurable objectives • Clear-cut, measurable objectives help spur everyone in the right direction and serve as mileposts against which progress can be gauged.

33. Five criteria (listed below) help in framing effective objectives. • In their book Strategy Formulation and Implementation, A. A. Thompson and A. J . Strickland present example objective statements that illustrate use of these criteria • 1 Objectives should be definitive and specific. • 2 Objectives should describe accomplishments or results, not activities or behaviors. • 3 Objectives should be measurable (quantifiable). • 4 Objectives should delineate a time frame or deadline. • 5 Objectives should be challenging yet achievable (they should be within the control of the responsible business unit and not rely on what might be accomplished by other organizations).

34. How Are We Going to Accomplish These Objectives? • Having established what is to be achieved through a sustained effort over a specific period of time, the next step is to determine how these objectives are to be achieved. • This is accomplished through development of strategies and plans for specific courses of action: who does what by when.

35. How Are We Going to Accomplish These Objectives? • One element of the strategy is the adoption of TQM as a comprehensive management system to achieve objectives by assuring that all work is performed in a systematic, integrated, consistent manner. • The installation of TQM becomes the work of senior management, and its pursuit of TQM is a prime example of its leadership.

36. How Do We Develop These Statements? • Statements of mission, vision, values, policy, and objectives developed behind closed doors by a single executive or by just a few top-level managers in isolation serve a useful purpose but are limited in impact. • In this case, the key advantage of developing these statements is quickly lost once the task is completed.

37. How Do We Develop These Statements? • The advantage of securing ownership, commitment, and involvement will accrue to organizations that use a collaborative process to forge these key statements. • Furthermore, the benefits will last for an extended period of time. • A senior manager who either establishes a new vision or reaffirms an existing mission by involving others in a participative manner garners ownership and commitment from all those who were involved in the process.

38. Other Elements of Leadership • The last two elements of the leadership framework cover management's actions in day-to-day activities. • 1. Commitment: relates to what is done by managers themselves and in the allocation of resources. • 2. Style: relates to how they do things.

39. Commitment • The demonstration of commitment takes many forms and is evidenced by what managers do as well as by what they say.

40. Commitment • The first opportunity to demonstrate commitment (or reveal the lack of it) is often found in reallocating resources and funding additional staff to implement the extensive training that is required to equip all employees with the skills and knowledge needed to pursue TQM. • Will the resources be provided? • Will funds be made available from the redirection of traditional training programs?

41. Commitment • Equally important are senior managers willing to demonstrate commitment by participating in the same training that everyone else will undertake? • Will senior managers use the tools, jargon, and processes to pursue continuous improvement? • Or will they merely instruct their subordinates to do it?

42. Commitment • Are senior managers willing to create structures to support TQM, such as boards and steering committees? • And are they willing to participate in these structures? • Or are they going to delegate (abdicate) this responsibility?

43. Commitment • Are senior managers capable of demonstrating long-term commitment to implement continuous improvement, even when improvement may be viewed as having high start-up costs? • Commitment means more than new procedures, policies, directives, letters, and speeches. • Employees look for commitment from top management by observing their behaviors and their style.

44. Style • In addition to what you do, how you do it is equally important.

45. Six leadership attributes • 1 Leaders base decisions on data. Opinions are interesting, but decisions should be based on what you know, not what you think. • 2 Leaders are resources, coaches, facilitators for the individuals with whom they work. Employees who are looking to their leaders for direction, decisions, or approvals don't understand your new role. Have you explained the difference? Is your style consistent with your intent? • 3 Leaders are actively involved. They learn new skills along with their employees. Being proficient, leaders are then able to assist others in their pursuit of continuous improvement.

46. Six leadership attributes • 4 Leaders build commitment. They assure that everyone understands the organization's mission, vision, values, and goals. Furthermore, • leaders assure that everyone knows his or her individual role and is eager to contribute. • 5 Leaders inspire confidence. They extract the best from everyone and encourage personal development. • 6 Leaders say thanks. They do so with every imaginable form of monetary and non-monetary incentive.

47. Attributes of a Leader • Creates More Leaders • Focuses on Customers • Knows When to Coach and When to Judge • Removes Obstacles to Joy of Work • Understands Variation • Works to Improve Systems to Creates Trust • Forgives Mistakes to Listens • Improves Continually His/Her Education

48. THE END Thank You