Quality Management: Analysis of Deming's Contributions and Application

This essay delves into the principles of quality management, focusing on the contributions of Edward Deming, a pivotal figure in the field. It begins by defining quality from various perspectives and highlighting its significance in business operations. The methodology section centers on Deming's key concepts, including his fourteen transformation points, the seven deadly diseases of organizations, and the PDCA cycle. The essay then critically evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of Deming's approach, such as employee motivation, customer satisfaction, and the time-consuming nature of implementation and teamwork challenges. The core of the essay applies Deming's principles to Welding Rod Inc., suggesting strategies for improving quality, increasing sales, and addressing organizational issues. The application includes suggestions for implementing the fourteen points, the PDCA cycle, and addressing issues like supplier delays, low sales, and employee morale, ultimately aiming to enhance the company's competitive advantage and financial performance. The essay concludes by summarizing Deming's lasting impact on organizational performance and the benefits of implementing his total quality management practices.

Running head: Quality Management 1
Quality Assurance Fundamentals
Student’s Name
Institution

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Introduction
Quality is crucial to sales, cost control, productivity, and risk management. Quality has
been defined differently by several quality management Gurus. Generally, quality is defined in
terms of fitness for purpose, conformance to requirements, cost, price, standard, performance
value, and experience. Quality products meet consumers' specifications and requirements.
Quality also refers to the price which consumers can afford or are willing to pay. This essay
discusses the contributions of one master of quality, its strengths and weaknesses, and
application to Welding Rod Inc.
Methodology description
There are many masters of quality management, but for this assignment have chosen
Edward Deming. Deming is the father of modern quality movement and defined quality in terms
of customer satisfaction and how efficient the business is in project planning, implementation,
and making improvements. The master argues that quality is not all about products but about
people. According to Deming, management is the root cause of almost 80% of organizational
problems. Deming made several contributions that can be used to improve business performance
(Lin, & Zhang, 2019).
Fourteen transformation points
The fourteen points are the creation of constancy purpose for improvement, adoption of
the new philosophy, cease inspection dependence, work with a single supplier, continuous
improvement and training, valid leadership, and eliminate fear and barriers. The others are a
slogan, quotas, and annual rating elimination. The last two practices are the institution of self-
improvement programs and workers' involvement. These practices help in the implementation of

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total quality management in the organization. TQM, when implemented, ensures quality in all
the business processes (Kadasah et al, 2017).
The deadly diseases of organizations
Deming identified the seven deadly diseases which hinder business transformations. These
diseases are lack of constancy of purpose or plan, short-term profit goals, performance
evaluation, management mobility, and running company based on visible figures (Jiménez-
Jiménez et al, 2015).
PDCA cycle
PDCA is an abbreviation of a plan, do, check, and act. The PDCA cycle provides steps that
organizations should follow when introducing change it its operations. To implement change, the
organization should first plan. The plan involves the identification of an opportunity or area that
needs improvement. After identification, come up with a plan. The next step is doing, which
consists of testing the change. The next step is check, which involves reviewing and analyzing
results from the test. The last step is an act, which consists in taking the necessary actions. PDCA
process is repeated for continuous improvement (Jagusiak-Kocik, 2017).
Strengths and weaknesses of Deming
Deming’s methodology has many advantages, such as employee motivation, customer
satisfaction, increased department cooperation, and problem-solving. All these strengths improve
the efficiency and effectiveness of business operations. Customer satisfaction is enhanced
through quality products and services which conform to requirements. Management practices,
such as worker involvement, motivate employees. The PDCA cycle helps in problem-solving by

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identifying the root causes as early as possible. Quality is achieved when all departments work
together; thus, strength is the increase in cooperation among departments.
Though very significant, this methodology has some weaknesses like a time consuming
as much time is required to implement it. The employees need training which takes them from
their jobs. Practice, therefore, is another weakness. The methodology involves teamwork, which
is a weakness as it is hard to build teams, and to work in groups can cause frustrations (Arian et
al, 2016).
Application in Welding Rods
Deming’s methodology, when implemented, can help solve Welding Rod's problems.
Welding sales are declining, maybe because of low quality and high prices. Deming’s fourteen
points can solve the problem by ensuring the production process is effective. Welding company
should create a plan of what they want to achieve and also offer on-job training and self-
improvement programs. The company should always involve workers when making significant
decisions. The fourteen management practices will increase quality and productivity; hence, the
company will meet market demands and increase sales due to repetitive purchases from satisfied
customers. Welding company will solve problems such as suppliers delay, low sales, non-
conformance, and reduce complaints from night shift workers (Dudin et al, 2015).
The company should identify and select only one supplier. With one supplier,
communication will be effective; resulting in few bottlenecks like delivery delays will be
reduced. With Deming the day shift workers will have a plan of their duties as well as night shift.
The program helps in the reduction of mistakes and complaints. Welding can apply PDCA cycle
for continuous improvement. The company needs to change its operations; thus, by using PDCA;

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the change implementation succeeds. For example, the company will have a constancy plan of
what products and services to produce, including the quantity, quality, time, and the inventory
required to create them (O’Neill et al 2015).
Deming reduces fear in the company by ensuring continuous improvement. The
methodology helps in identification of deadly diseases causing failure and provides solutions.
Welding conducts performance evaluation, which discourages workers. To mitigate this disease,
the company should not rate his ng employees instead should motivate them to do better and
encourage teamwork. The organizational problem of welding may be due to the mobility of its
management. To solve the problem, the company should always motivate its employees by, for
example, with good pay because motivated employees will not desire to work in other
organizations (Psomas, & Jaca 2016).
Welding should run its business based on both visible and non-quantifiable figures; non-
quantifiable figures include employee morale and customer satisfaction. The company should
contact market research to understand what customers need and their experience with the
company. With the customer's feedback, the company can improve its services and products
hence a competitive advantage. Deming’s quality management enhances the quality of Welding
company products and services. With high quality, the company will gain competitive
advantage, make more sales, increase customer satisfaction, and finally earn more returns. These
benefits gained from the methodology will reduce the investor's complaints (Ngambi, &
Nkemkiafu, 2015).

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Conclusion
Edward Deming is the founder of quality movement; thus, his contributions enhance
organizations' performance. The Welding Rods company can implement TQM practices such as
Deming’s 14 points, and the PDCA cycle to solve its organizational problems like reduced sales.

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References
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Jagusiak-Kocik, M. (2017). PDCA cycle as a part of continuous improvement in the production
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O’Neill, P., Sohal, A., & Teng, C. W. (2016). Quality management approaches and their impact
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Psomas, E. L., & Jaca, C. (2016). The impact of total quality management on service company
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