What contribution can 'Lean Thinking' make to the contemporary Essay

What contribution can 'Lean Thinking' make to the contemporary challenges of public service delivery - Essay Example However, sometimes you find that once businesses hits the quality mark at the onset stages of production, they tend to relax and things slow down, making the delivery slip back into the low quality conditions. This is an undesirable phenomenon especially in the competitive business world of the century we live in. As a result of businesses losing their clients because of slackness in the quality level of their products and services, most have resorted to affecting the total quality management concept. The concept presents a number of underlying advantages to the businesses and organizations that run it. The concept of total quality management (TQM) an al the underlying sub-concepts of this process will be analyzed in full in the next discourse. Here, the definition of TQM and the philosophy underling the TQM will be carried out. Also, the elements of TQM, benefits, effectiveness as well as the TQM frame work will be looked into. Lastly, the paper will close by discussing the quality standards and offering the universally acceptable quality of standards. Definition and philosophy of TQM Hawkes and Adams define the TQM as the practice of integrating the various components of the various inputs that are used in the production of high quality products or services that are designed to meet or even surpass the expectations of the clients (32). According to Tari, being in agreement of this definition, TQM also encompasses the issue of involvement of all the various components that make this delivery of quality products or services to be enabled (182). For the delivery of quality products, the management team of the company, the employees, the different levels of contact between the management and the employees such as the suppliers as well as the customer are all involved. Each person or level of involvement plays a very keen role in ensuring that the quality of the product or services, measured using certain pre-ordained measurements is not compromised. To keep the n otation of TQM constant, the concept operates under a certain philosophy. This is the philosophy that guides the level of involvement of the various components that translates to the delivery of quality products and services. The philosophy of TQM states that if quality is maintained and upheld in all areas of the production process at all times, there is no doubt that this builds up an organizational culture that is largely responsible for meeting the various needs of the customer. In other words, the philosophy of TQM employs the use of effective management to develop a constant habit that allows for constant and consistent production of various products and services of a company (Petersen, 468). Elements of a quality management system For the TQM process to be successful, a number of elements have to be employed in such a combination that allows for easy and effective application. These processes offer a guideline onto how the TQM will be appraised once a certain organization dec ides to operate under this concept. The recognized elements under TQM will be analysed in the following discussion. There are eight elements of TQM as shall be noted herein. The first element of TQM is the element of ethics. Ethics, by definition, is the a code of ethics prescribed in an organization that largely governs the way employees in a certain organization behave or relate with each other inside their organization as well as with other people outside the organization (Zink, 394). Different organizations have different rules and regulations that govern their employees. As a result, the behavior of employees in one organization could be quite