MEASUREMENT

Management should establish measurements to track progress on CPIs.

 The unit of measurement should fit the indicator being evaluated and should be understood by those who contribute to the improvement process for that indicaton.

For instance, the cost of quality CPI should be measured in dollars and compared to several key values, such as cost of sales or cost of manufacturing. Another example is on time performance. This CPI can be measured in several ways, which should all relate directly to customer requirements.

For example, this CPI can track orders shipped to customer-required dates (external customer measure), or it could track design engineering input to manufacturing engineering (internal customer measure), or it could track quote turn around from your suppliers (a measure of your needs as a customer of your supplier).

CPIs when methods of continuous improvement are explored.

EMPOWERMENT AND INVOLVEMENT

One of the more responsible acts management can perform is recognizing that their employees can make significant contributions to the success of the organization. If management provides the tools and training, a great deal can be accomplished through employee empowerment and involvement (E & I). However, the employee must be properly prepared for such responsibilities.

The first employees that should be prepared for Employee E & I are managers and supervisors. The concepts of TQM must be provided through several training sessions and should be reinforced through appropriate actions from senior management. One of the better methods of demonstrating senior Management's commitment to Employee E & I is by forming management teams and allowing these teams to evaluate and suggest how to improve current systems. It is through these management teams that lower-level employee teams are created.

The teams formed at all levels will concentrate on improving the organizations critical performance indicators (CPIs).

CPIs are tracked and evaluated through measurement parameters established by management E & I teams.

THE PRIMARY ROLE OF MANAGEMENT

..... is to provide employees with the leadership necessary to meet the goals of the organization.

This leadership must reflect the principles of total quality management. These principles were presented in the Introduction: leadership commitment, customer focus, training, empowerment and involvement, measurement, recognition and rewards, and communication.

LEADERSHIP COMMITMENT

Management must first examine how they manage. Is their style tailored to encourage input from other managers and departments? Or is their style that of not allowing other departments or disciplines to influence their decisions? In other words, do they operate as team leaders or as silos?

When I refer to managers operating as silos, I mean that they stand alone within the organizational structure by excluding input from other managers or departments. This concept is explained further below.

Silos

Management in the past relied on experts in given disciplines to develop systems and procedures to guide the organization.

These experts headed up their own departments (silos) and had specialists working for them who created the culture and systems for the silo master.

The silo master made it clear to all other silo masters in the organization how his department functioned and that there would be no interference from other groups or departments.

This allowed the silo master to keep control of his territory. This also assured that the other department managers did not fully understand the requirements for positive interaction between groups or departments within the organizational structure.

Here's a classic example of how silos can thwart satisfying customer requirements. The marketing group receives an order from a customer and tells the design group what the customer wants. The design group gives their interpretation of the customer's needs to the manufacturing engineering group. Manufacturing engineering tells manufacturing what process to use to create the product that will satisfy the needs of the customer. Manufacturing does their very best to manufacture the part according to criteria supplied by manufacturing engineering. The quality department inspects the final product and decides it is manufactured incorrectly.

Rework is performed and the part is shipped to the cus-tomer. The customer rejects the part because it does not meet his requirements!

Management needs to break down silos in their organizations because they create waste, redundancy, and poor quality. We are getting better today at breaking down silos and allowing interaction through cross-functional team management. Management should evaluate themselves to determine if their management style is autocratic or team oriented.

Autocratic Management

I remember when I first started working. I was told that in order to succeed and to keep my job, I had to remember two rules.

Rule l: The boss is always right.

Rule 2: When the boss is wrong, remember

Rule 1. Those were the days when systems were more important than people. Employee involvement consisted of doing only what the boss told you to do, whether it made sense or not. Management felt that empowering the worker took control away from management. Switching to a management style that encourages employee involvement and empowerment is a tough transition for many. Unless special training is provided for middle and first-line management, the transition may never take place.

And, unless upper management invests and participates in this training, the organization is bound to fail. It will be overtaken by other organizations who have invested in their most valuable resource, their employees, and are cashing in on that investment. Employees of an enlightened organization contribute every day to improved operations and systems.

Once management has committed itself to breaking down silos, it must embrace the concept of Team Management.

Team Management

Gone are the days when managers are expected to be proficient in only one discipline. Today managers must be part of a management team, and they must have a working knowledge of their peers' responsibilities. For example, the quality manager needs to understand how design engineering, manufacturing engineering, purchasing, sales, production control, customer service, and every other department functions. And every other manager should know the roles of the others.

This is not to say that they need to be as well trained in the other disciplines as their peers, but they must understand how the entire organization functions. We want to break down silos so we can move freely throughout the organization. This creates another dilemma because now we need to allow managers who are outside our responsibility to be permitted, even welcomed, to handle situations that structurally may belong to us.

It's time for the goose story. We as managers should take a lesson from the goose. I'm sure you have observed geese in flight. They fly in a pattern that forms a horizontal V.

There is a good reason why geese fly in a V pattern. The lead goose breaks the air current and creates an uplift behind him that the other geese can take advantage of. The second tier of geese likewise does the same for the third tier and so on and so forth for the entire flock.

The lead goose eventually tires of butting his head against the wind, so he drops back in the formation. Here's when something interesting takes place. Another goose from the flock moves to the front to assume the lead. This goose does so until he tires. Then he drops back and another goose moves in to lead. Geese in a flock are willing to follow the lead of whoever is leading at the time because they all have a common goal.

We can learn a lot from the goose! Geese have learned how to work as a team. All in the flock are willing and able to lead when necessary. The leader who drops back is not intimidated by another taking his place. He understands that for now it is best that someone else assumes leadership.

EIGHT COMPONENTS OF INTEGRATED SERVICE MANAGEMENT TUTORIALS

INTEGRATED SERVICE MANAGEMENT COMPONENTS
What Are The Eight Components Of Integrated Service Management?


When discussing strategies to market manufactured goods, marketers usually address four basic strategic elements: product, price, place (or distribution), and promotion (or communication). Collectively, these four categories are often referred to as the "4Ps" of the marketing mix.

However, the distinctive nature of service performances, especially such aspects as customer involvement in production and the importance of the time factor, requires that other strategic elements be included. To capture the nature of this challenge, we will be using the "8Ps" of integrated service management, which describe eight decision variables facing managers of service organizations.

Our visual metaphor for the 8Ps is the racing "eight," a lightweight boat or shell powered by eight rowers, made famous by the Oxford and Cambridge boat race that has taken place annually on the River Thames near London for almost 150 years.

Today, similar races involving many different teams are a staple of rowing competitions around the world, as well as a featured sport in the Summer Olympics. Speed comes not only from the rowers' physical strength, but also from their harmony and cohesion as part of a team.

To achieve optimal effectiveness, each of the eight rowers must pull on his or her oar in unison with the others, following the direction of the coxswain, who is seated in the stern. A similar synergy and integration between each of the 8Ps is required for success in any competitive service business.

The cox—who steers the boat, setsthe pace, motivates the crew, and keeps a close eye on competing boats in the race—is a metaphor for management.

Product Elements
Managers must select the features of both the core product and the bundle of supplementary service elements surrounding it, with reference to the benefits desired by customers and how well competing products perform.

Place, Cyberspace, and Time 
Delivering product elements to customers involves decisions on both the place and time of delivery and may involve physical or electronic distribution channels (or both), depending on the nature of the service being provided. Messaging services and the Internet allow information-based services to be delivered in cyberspace for retrieval by telephone or computer wherever and whenever it suits the customer.

Firms may deliver service directly to their customers or through intermediary organizations like retail outlets owned by other companies, which receive a fee or percentage of the selling price to perform certain tasks associated with sales, service, and customer-contact. Customer expectations of speed and convenience are becoming important determinants in service delivery strategy.


Process
Creating and delivering product elements to customers requires the design and implementation of effective processes. A process describes the method and sequence in which service operating systems work.

Badly designed processes are likely to annoy customers because of slow, bureaucratic, and ineffective service delivery. Similarly, poor processes make it difficult for front-line staff to do their jobs well, result in low productivity, and increase the likelihood of service failures.

Productivity and Quality
These elements, often treated separately, should be seen as two sides of the same coin. No service firm can afford to address either element in isolation. Improved productivity is essential to keep costs under control but managers must beware of making inappropriate cuts in service levels that are resented by customers (and perhaps by employees, too).

Service quality, as defined by customers, is essential for product differentiation and for building customer loyalty. However, investing in quality improvement without understanding the trade-off between incremental costs and incremental revenues may place the profitability of the firm at risk.

People
Many services depend on direct, personal interaction between customers and a firm's employees (like getting a haircut or eating at a restaurant). The nature of these interactions strongly influences the customer's perceptions of service quality.

Customers often judge the quality of the service they receive largely on their assessment of the people providing the service. Successful service firms devote significant effort to recruiting, training, and motivating their personnel, especially—but not exclusively— those who are in direct contact with customers.

Promotion and Education 
No marketing program can succeed without an effective communication program. This component plays three vital roles: providing needed information and advice, persuading target customers of the merits of a specific product, and encouraging them to take action at specific times.

In service marketing, much communication is educational in nature, especially for new customers. Companies may need to teach these customers about the benefits of the service, where and when to obtain it, and how to participate effectively in service processes.

Communications can be delivered by individuals, such as salespeople and trainers, or through such media as TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, brochures, and Web sites.

Physical Evidence The appearance of buildings, landscaping, vehicles, interior
furnishing, equipment, staff members, signs, printed materials, and other visible cues all
provide tangible evidence of a firm's service style and quality. Service firms need to
manage physical evidence carefully because it can have a profound impact on
customers' impressions. In services with few tangible elements, such as insurance,
advertising is often employed to create meaningful symbols. For instance, an umbrella
may symbolize protection, and a fortress, security.

Price and Other User Outlays
This component addresses management of the
outlays incurred by customers in obtaining benefits from the service product.
Responsibilities are not limited to the traditional pricing tasks of establishing the selling
price to customers, which typically include setting trade margins and establishing credit
terms. Service managers also recognize and, where practical, seek to minimize other
costs and burdens that customers may bear in purchasing and using a service, including
additional financial expenditures, time, mental and physical effort, and negative sensory
experiences.