Managing Quality: Integrating the Supply Chain, Ch. 15
How does the whack-a-mole analogy help us better understand the importance of organizational learning in a quality-focused organization?
Question 2 (AshG)
Culture is defined as the norms and beliefs that lead to decision making patterns and actions in an organization. Some keys that relate to culture include attitude towards change, the presence or absence of fear, fairness, degree of openness, the behavior of all employees and finally, trust. In any company that plays the blame game in which they force the responsibility of a mistake on their employees lack a sense of culture and trust. As a result, companies have employees who put up a guard and are self defensive. The goal of a company should be to create an environment that is open and where risks are rewarded. Thoughts?
Question 3 (NikW)
Culture can be a good thing for a company to follow. If a company is internationally known, culture can impact their business due to conflicts from other countries. A company should always be aware of the cultures or beliefs they hold in this case. Some companies will not do business with certain companies if their culture does not match with the culture of the company they are trying to do business with. If a company in the US is trying to do business with a country in the Middle East, the ME company may not agree to do business if the US company has a woman as their representative. In this day an age it should not be an issue, but it can very well be.
Question 4 (NikW)
People are the base of the quality system model. If there were no people, there would be no company. A solid foundation of good hard working people will make the quality of a company greater than a company who has people how are just existing in the company. Having a strong team of individuals will make the company grow and prosper. It will also create a management team who can pass their work ethics to everyone that comes on board for that company. That group of individuals can help create the correct processes and procedures that will make the foundation for the quality system even stronger. The company with the strong base and strong team will do much better than a company who does not have a strong team to get the efficiencies accomplished. Thoughts?
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Quality Management for Organizational Excellence, Ch. 14
Question 5
What is an external quality organization? What are the benefits of using external quality organizations to aid in the overall quality improvement of an organization?
Question 6 (TyM)
There may be a time when a company finds it helpful to have an external party study the company's quality processes to assist in identifying areas that need improvement. An external quality management organization can offer a different perspective on quality issues that a company may miss while conducting their own quality checks. This objective perspective can shed light on issues such as a company's quality processes, procedures, structure, or resources. These issues may be overlooked because the company may be too close to the quality problems to see where the issues are coming from. Thoughts?
Question 7
List the eight principles of ISO-9000? Describe the steps that needs to be taken and the documentation that must be prepared to become an ISO-9000 certified company.