Monday, June 2, 2014

Long Questions to Review

1. Define leadership? Explain trait approach to leadership? States its limitation(3+5+3)
2. Define leadership. Explain Fiedler Contingency model.(3+7)
3. Define Behavioral approach to leadership. Explain the managerial Grid. (3+7)
4. Define leadership? Explain leadership Function.(3+7)
5. Define Staffing and its importance? Explain Human Resource Management System. (2+3+5)
6. Define organizing. Explain the emerging concepts in organizing. (3+7)
7. Define organizing. Explain Matrix structure.(3+7)
8. Define job design. Explain different approaches to job design.(3+7)
9. What is decision making? Explain the process of decision making. (3+7)
10. What is decision making? Explain various styles in decision making? Which is most effective style, why?(2+6+2)
11. What is group decision making? State its disadvantage and explain any two methods of making decision in group.(2+2+6)
12. Planning is the first activity of an organization; comment. Discuss process of planning for business. (5+5)
13. How strategic planning differs from operational planning? Explain the process of formulation of strategic plan. (5+5)
14. Why is goal important for an organization? Describe goal formulation process. (5+5)
15. Define business environment? Assess the emerging business environment of Nepal.(3+7)
16. Differentiate between internal and external environment of business. What are the components of task environment?(5+5)
17. What do you understand by business environment? Explain different component of external environment. (3+7)
18. What is social responsibility? Specify different approaches to social responsibility, which one do you prefer why? (3+7)
19. What is managerial ethics and its significance? What are areas of concern for managers under managerial ethics?(2+3+5)
20. State and explain the “system approach” and “contingency approach” of management as the integrating approach of managing an organization. (10)
21. Differentiate between scientific management and administrative management schools of thought. Which school of thought do you think is more applicable in organization, why?(7+3)
22. Define management. What are the major issues and challenges that managers confront today?(3+7)
23. Explain different skills required by manger? Do managers equally need these skills at different levels?(6+4)
24. Define management. The true reality of management: "Most managers engage in more than one function at a time and often move back and forth between the function in unpredictable ways". Agree or Disagree, and why? (2+8)
25. Highlight the Henry Fayol’s fourteen universal principles of management. (10)
26. Describe the roles of a manager as identifies by Henry Mintzberg.(10)
27. Define group? Explain the stages of group formation? (2+8)
28. Define team and its importance? Describe characteristics of effective teams. (2+3+5)
29. "Conflict is not only a positive force in a group but it is absolutely necessary for a group to perform effectively" Do you agree or disagree with this statement.(10)
30. What is conflict? If there is no conflict in organization, explain how manager can stimulate conflict?(3+7)
31. "Conflict is negative or positive to organization", analyze. Explain approaches to conflict resolution.(5+5)
32. Define motivation. Critically analyze the Maslow need hierarchy theory? (3+7)
33. What is motivation? Discuss motivational techniques that mangers can adopt to motivate employees. (3+7)
34. What is formal communication? Explain barriers to communication and strategies to over come the barriers.(2+5+3)
35. Define communication? What are the different forms of organizational communication?(3+7)
36. "Poor communication is important source of interpersonal conflict". Do you agree or disagree with the statement. (10)
37. Define control. Briefly describe the control process and explain which step is likely to be most challenging to perform and why? (2+5+3)
38. Describe Deming's principles of total quality management. State 14 techniques suggested by Deming. (5+5)
39. What is quality management? Clarify the techniques of total quality management. (3+7)
40. What is organizational Change? Explain resistance to change and techniques to over come this resistance to change. (2+5+3)
41. Define organizational Development? Explain its process? (3+7)

Unit 6: (P 46) Organizational Development: concept, objective, benefits, process and activities

Organizational Development: 
A collection of planned change interventions, built on humanistic democratic values that seeks to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well being.

OD Values:

  • Respect for people
  • Trust and support
  • Power equalization
  • Confrontation
  • Participation

Characteristics:

  • Long term plan
  • Dynamic process
  • System perspective
  • Focus on behavior
  • Research based
  • Empowered process
  • Team work

Objectives:

  • Align individual with organizational purpose.
  • Builds interpersonal trust, communication, cooperation, positive attitude, enthusiasm and support.
  • Focus on problem solving approach.
  • Increase personal responsibility
  • Encourage personal willingness to change.

Key benefits of OD

  • Empowering managers and employees
  • Creating culture of learning organization
  • Makes change easier and faster
  • Increase Decision making efficiency and effectiveness
  • Growth of constructive conflict
  • Positive profits, innovation, customer satisfaction, quality output, work life balance.

OD Process:

  1. Initial Diagnosis: The initial diagnosis refers to finding the inadequacies within the organization that can be corrected by OD activities then it is necessary to find out the professionally competent persons within organization to plan and execute OD activities. The outside consultants can be also employed to help in diagnosing the problems and diagnosing OD activities. The consultants adopt various methods and that primarily includes interviews, questionnaires, direct observation, analysis of documents and reports for diagnosing the problem.
  2. Data Collection: The survey method is employed to collect the data for determining organizational climate. It also helps in identifying the behavioral problems that are rising in the organization. 
  3. Data Feedback: The collected data are analyzed and reviewed by various work groups that are formed for this purpose. It is done in order to intervene in the areas of disagreement or confrontation of ideas or opinions. 
  4. Selection of Interventions: The interventions can be described as the planned activities that are introduced into the system to achieve desired changes and improvements. The suitable interventions are to be selected and designed at this stage. 
  5. Implementation of Interventions: The selected intervention should be implemented progressively as the process is not a one shot, quick cure for organizational problems. Consequently, it achieves real and lasting change in the attitudes and behavior of employees.
  6. Evaluation and follow up: The organization should evaluate the OD programmes and should find out their utility, and develop the programmes further for correcting the deviations. The consultants make great significance to the organization in this respect. The entire steps in the OD processes should be followed by the organization in order to derive full range of OD benefits.

OD Interventions or OD Techniques

  1. Sensitivity Training : It is known as training being carried out by creating an experimental laboratory circumstances where workers will be brought together to do something together in a formless environment. Sensitivity training helps in understanding people well again, to develop appreciation for others, to develop specific behavioral skills and to gain effective approach into the group development. It also aims at falling interpersonal confrontation.
    • The main aim of sensitivity training is to split all the methods through the bond of silence and ease the expression of associates to emphasize on the process of debate to a certain extent than to fulfill the instructions. 
    • It is a method which proposes to have brain washing of persons. This training is accepted by formless groups without any agenda, leader and predetermined goals. The group is given independence to expand their plans, contacts and ongoing process for interaction. Sensitivity training gives a technique to enable special knowledge and development.

  2. Team Building: Team building is an attempt to assist the work group to identify, diagnose and solve its own problems. Actually groups develop their own norms of behavior which pressurize the persons and group behavior. Organization is a system to interconnect with groups. OD considers that work groups are the teams which are spinning around to introduce changes in the organization. Team building actions are taken to develop a range of groups in an organization like permanent work teams, task forces, committees etc. Team building actions focus on finding, task achievement, team relationships and organizational process. The component groups in team building activity are: the external advisors, the group leader and the members of the group.
    • In team building movement, associates meet and talk about troubles connecting to their coursework. It obtain sincere and courageous argument. In the team building movements, the associate adds the sequence relating to their personal observation of issues, problems and task relationship.

  3. Process Consultation: It can be described as the set of activities on the part of the consultant that helps the client to perceive, understand and act upon the process events that take place in the client’s environment. Process consultation concentrates on the analysis of process of activities like communication, leadership etc. It also aims to attempts to develop initial contacts, define relationships, selecting the method of work, collection of data and diagnosis. Process consultation is a method of intervening in an ongoing system and is designed to change attitudes, values, interpersonal skills, group norms, and cohesiveness and other process variables.

  4. Intergroup Development: Meager interpersonal relations are not unusual features in organizational performance. Under these circumstances, inter-group motion spotlights to improve the relationships between the groups. It helps in the interaction and communication between the work groups which eventually avoids dysfunctional inimical competitiveness among them. Inter-group team building entails the procedure of discrimination and combination. 
    • Groups independently develop lists of perceptions, share and discuss lists, look for causes of misperceptions and work to develop integrative solutions.

  5. Appreciative Inquiry: Appreciative Inquiry is primarily an organizational development method which focuses on increasing what an organization does well rather than on eliminating what it does badly. Appreciative Inquiry works from a strength-based foundation of guiding principles. By focusing on the organizations strengths, you can evolve into a true “center of excellence”. Rather than focusing on problems, Appreciative Inquiry elicits solutions. Appreciative Inquiry (AI):
    • Discovery: recalling the strengths of the organization.
    • Dreaming: speculation on the future of the organization.
    • Design: finding a common vision.
    • Destiny: deciding how to fulfill the dream.

  6. Survey Feedback: 
    • It recounts to an approach survey through well planned assessment or Interviews. It covers the feedback to the customer organization. 
    • It has a demand and significance in a genuine situation. The attitude survey can have a purpose to measure the process; for instance, communication, decision making and leadership at different levels. The data produced under this system is perceptual and attitudinal. A review of the product is prepared in a group discussion. 
    • Generally feedback of results is specific to the group which prepares the data. As a result strategies are planned to resolve the organizational problems. 
    • Consequently, the process of survey feedback includes: collection of data, feedback, development of action plan and follow-up. Therefore, to ensure authentic results, the survey should be applicable and dependable.


Unit 6 (P 45): Organizational Change: Resistance, overcoming resistance, ; implementing and monitoring change

Resistance to Change: 
Resistance to change is the action taken by individuals and groups when they perceive that a change that is occurring as a threat to them. Resistance may take many forms, including active or passive, overt or covert, individual or organized, aggressive or timid.

  1. Sources of Individual Resistance to Change
    • HABIT As human beings, we're creatures of habit. Life is complex enough; we don't need to consider the full range of options for the hundreds of decisions we have to make every day. To cope with this complexity, we all rely on habits or programmed responses. But when confronted with change, this tendency to respond in our accustomed ways becomes a source of resistance. So when your department is moved to a new office building across town, it means you're likely to have to change many habits: waking up ten minutes earlier, taking a new set of streets to work, finding a new parking place, adjusting to the new office layout, developing a new lunchtime routine, and so on.
    • SECURITY People with a high need for security are likely to resist change because it threatens their feeling of safety. When General Dynamics announces personnel cutbacks or Ford introduces new robotic equipment, many employees at these firms may fear that their jobs are in jeopardy.
    • ECONOMIC FACTORS Another source of individual resistance is concern that changes will lower one's income. Changes in job tasks or established work routines also can arouse economic fears if people are concerned that they won't be able to perform the new tasks or routines to their previous standards, especially when pay is closely tied to productivity.
    • FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN Changes substitute ambiguity and uncertainty for the known. If, for example, the introduction of word processors means that departmental secretaries will have to learn to operate these new pieces of equipment, some of the secretaries may fear that they will be unable to do so. They may, therefore, develop a negative attitude toward working with word processors or behave dysfunctionally if required to use them.
    • SELECTIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING Individuals shape their world through their perceptions. Once they have created this world, it resists change. So individuals are guilty of selectively processing information in order to keep their perceptions intact. They hear what they want to hear. They ignore information that challenges the world that they've created. To return to the secretaries who are faced with the introduction of word processors, they may ignore the arguments that their bosses make in explaining why the new equipment has been purchased or the potential benefits that the change will provide them.
  2. Sources of Organizational Resistance to Change
    • STRUCTURAL INERTIA Organizations have built-in mechanisms to produce stability. For example, the selection process systematically selects certain people in and certain people out. Training and other socialization techniques reinforce specific role requirements and skills. Formalization provides job descriptions, rules, and procedures for employees to follow. The people who are hired into an organization are chosen for fit; they are then shaped and directed to behave in certain ways. When an organization is confronted with change, this structural inertia acts as a counterbalance to sustain stability.
    • LIMITED FOCUS OF CHANGE Organizations are made up of a number of interdependent subsystems. You can't change one without affecting the others. For example, if management changes the technological processes without simultaneously modifying the organization's structure to match, the change in technology is not likely to be accepted. So limited changes in subsystems tend to get nullified by the larger system.
    • GROUP INERTIA Even if individuals want to change their behavior, group norms may act as a constraint. An individual union member, for instance, may be willing to accept changes in his job suggested by management. But if union norms dictate resisting any unilateral change made by management, he's likely to resist.
    • THREAT TO EXPERTISE Changes in organizational patterns may threaten the expertise of specialized groups. The introduction of decentralized personal computers, which allow managers to gain access to information directly from a company's mainframe, is an example of a change that was strongly resisted by many information systems departments in the early 1980s. Why? Because decentralized end-user computing was a threat to the specialized skills held by those in the centralized information systems departments.
    • THREAT TO ESTABLISHED POWER RELATIONSHIPS Any redistribution of decision-making authority can threaten long-established power relationships within the organization. The introduction of participative decision making or self-managed work teams is the kind of change that is often seen as threatening by supervisors and middle managers.
    • THREAT TO ESTABLISHED RESOURCE ALLOCATIONS Those groups in the organization that control sizable resources often see change as a threat. They tend to be content with the way things are. Will the change, for instance, mean a reduction in their budgets or a cut in their staff size? Those that most benefit from the current allocation of resources often feel threatened by changes that may affect future allocations.

Overcoming Resistance to Change:

  1. Education & Communication: educate people about a change before it is implemented; help them understand the logic behind the change.
  2. Participation & Involvement: allow people to help design and implement the changes (e.g., ideas, task forces, committees).
  3. Facilitation & Support: provide help (emotional & material resources) for people having trouble adjusting to the change.
  4. Negotiation & Agreement: offers incentives to those who resist change.
  5. Manipulation & Cooptation: attempts to influence others.
  6. Explicit & Implicit Coercion: use of authority to get people to accept change.

Implementing and monitoring the change process

  1. Establish the reason for change
  2. Form a team
  3. Create new vision for change
  4. Empower subordinates
  5. Communicate information
  6. Consolidate improvement
  7. Reinforce the changes
  8. Make provision of reward


Approaches to Managing Organizational Change

  1. Lewin’s Three Step Model

 This model states that organizational change involves a move from one static state via a progressional shift, to another static state. The model, also known as Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze, comprises a three-stage process of 1) unfreezing, 2) changing and 3) re-freezing.

Stage 1: Unfreeze
This stage involves creating the right conditions for change to occur. By resisting change, people often attach a sense of identity to their environment. In this state, alternatives, even beneficial ones, will initially cause discomfort. The challenge is to move people from this 'frozen' state to a 'change ready' or 'unfrozen' state.
Unfreezing can be done in three ways:
-by increasing driving force
-by decreasing restraining forces
-by combining both methods

Stage 2: Transition
The transitional 'journey' is central to Lewin's model and at the psychological level it is typically a period of confusion. People are aware that the old ways are being challenged, but there is no clear understanding of the new ways which will replace them. As roles change, a reduced state of efficiency is created, where goals are significantly lowered. Good leadership is important, and coaching, counseling or psychological support may be needed. The end goal of this stage is to get people to the 'unfrozen' state and keep them there.

Stage 3: Refreeze
The end goal of the model is to achieve a 'refreeze', re-establishing a new place of stability and elevate comfort levels by reconnecting people back into their safe, familiar environment. Refreezing takes people from a period of low productivity in the transitional state to a stable and productive state.

  2. Action Research: 
A change process based on systematic collection of data and then selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicate. action research is “learning by doing” - a group of people identify a problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful their efforts were, and if not satisfied, try again.
Process Steps in action research:

  1. Diagnosis
  2. Analysis
  3. Feedback
  4. Action
  5. Evaluation

Action research benefits:

  • Problem-focused rather than solution-centered.
  • Heavy employee involvement reduces resistance to change.


Unit 6 (P 44): Organizational Change: concept, forces, planned change & process

Organizational Change

  1. “Change is an alteration occurring the work environment that affect the ways in which employees  must act. (Newstrom and Davis)
  2. These changes may be planned or unplanned, catastrophic or evolutionary, positive or negative, strong or weak, slow or rapid, and stimulated either internally or externally.”
  3. Thus, OC is modification in relationship and behavior patterns of individuals and groups in organization, and organizational level for adaptation to dynamic environment.

Forces for Change

  1. Internal environment: Owners/ shareholder, Board of directors, Employees/ unions, corporate culture, Structure, Rules and regulations, goals, resources.
  2. External environment: 
    • Task or micro or operating environment:
      • Customers, Suppliers, Distributors, Unions, Creditors, Competitors, Regulatory Agency, Strategic allies.
    • General or macro or remote environment:
      • Political: constitution, political parties, government, government – business relationship, International political events.
      • Economic: economic system, economic policies, markets, globalization, unemployment.
      • Social: attitudes and beliefs, religions, language, education, class system, social organization.
      • Technological: choices of technology, need identification, acquisition, up gradation and maintenance, 
      • Legal: competition law, employment law, health and safety law, product safety
      • Environmental: Environment protection laws, waste disposal, Energy consumption.

Planned Change

  • Planned change is a proactive response to anticipated changes in the social/ business/ technological/ political and financial environment. Planned change is a set of activities in an organization that are intentional and goal-oriented.
  • Its goals are to: Improving the ability of the organization to adapt to changes in its environment, and changing the behavior of individuals and groups in the organization to make them responsive to change. 

Need for planned change:

  1. Adapt to environmental change
  2. Change in employees behavior
  3. Meet competition
  4. Fulfill consumers expectation
  5. Innovation of new knowledge
  6. Development of team work
  7. Conflict resolution
  8. Reinforce efficiency

Process of planned change:

  1. Recognition of the need for change
  2. Establishment of goals for the change
  3. Diagnosis of relevant variables
  4. Selection of appropriate change technique
  5. Planning for implementation of the change
  6. Actual implementation
  7. Evaluation and follow up

An alteration of the status quo is carefully formulated program that follows four steps: unfreezing the present level, establishing a change relationship, moving to a new level, and freezing at the new level. The program can be implemented by collaborative, coercive, or emulative means.

Targets of Organizational Change (What can change agents change?)

  1. Structure: organization’s design, standardization, decentralization etc.
  2. Technology: tools and equipment's or methods; automation or computerization
  3. Physical Setting: space configuration, interior design, equipment placement etc.
  4. People: changing attitude and behavior of organizational members through decision making, communication, problem solving processes.


Unit 5 (P 43): Quality Management:TQM (concept & techniques,

Total quality management : 
 TQM is an integrative philosophy of management for continuously improving the quality of products and processes. It is comprehensive approach to improving product quality and thereby customer satisfaction. It occurs when entire organization culture becomes focused on quality and customer satisfaction through an integrated system of management. The elements essential for TQM process to take are:

  1. Customer oriented approach: It is important to focus on the customer, both internal and external i.e., the employees and the users of the end product. In TQM parlance, the customer is the next process and not just a person who pays for the product or service. This concept helps to strengthen the co-operation within the organization, eliminate internal competition and drives away fear.
  2. Continuous process improvement: There is a beginning to the process of TQM, but there is no end. Checking, rechecking, valuation, revaluation, engineering and re-engineering are essential to ensure continuous improvement.
  3. The use of team: Teamwork is also a key element of TQM. With the use of teams, the business will receive quicker and better solutions to problems. Teams also provide more permanent improvements in processes and operations. In teams, people feel more comfortable bringing up problems that may occur, and can get help from other workers to find a solution and put into place.
  4. Employee involvement: People at all levels make up an organization and their full involvement in quality related issues and decision enables their abilities to be used for an institution's benefit. Quality circle is viewed as a major step to increase worker involvement and a very powerful method of employee empowerment.
  5. Employee Training and Development: “Training is very important for employees to be highly productive. Supervisors are solely responsible for implementing TQM within their departments, and teaching their employees the philosophies of TQM. Training that employees require are interpersonal skills, the ability to function within teams, problem solving, decision making, job management performance analysis and improvement, business economics and technical skills. During the creation and formation of TQM, employees are trained so that they can become effective employees for the company.


Tools/ Techniques of TQM:

  1. Bench marking: searching best practice among competitors that leads to their better performance.
  2. Outsourcing: subcontracting some/ entire job to other organization to bring quality and benefit of specialization.
  3. Speed: It involves not only doing job faster but also rethinking and redesigning the whole business cycle.
  4. ISO 9000: internationally agreed series of standards which sets out the criteria for world class quality management.
  5. Quality Circles: Quality circle is viewed as a major step to increase worker involvement and a very powerful method of employee empowerment.
  6. Kaizen: focus on determining waste and to suggest ways to eliminate waste by self managed work teams.

Deming Management: 
Develop by W. Edward Deming, forwarded following idea for quality management. He emphasized the importance and scope of statistical quality control in the Japanese industry. Deming view for quality management:

  1. To increase quality, organization needs to develop strategic plans.
  2. Manger should realize that mistakes, defects, and poor-quality materials should not be acceptable.
  3. First line manager should be allowed to spend more time working with employees
  4. Management should create where employee report problem and recommendation.
  5. Output should be not only defined in numbers, but also in quality.
  6. Management should train employees to assure standard.
  7. Management need to develop values and norms centered on improving quality.


Principles of Deming Management: By Robert Kreitner

  1. Quality improvements drives the entire economy
  2. The customer always comes first
  3. Do not blame the person fix the system
  4. Plan-do- check- act.( Deming’s PDCA cycle)


The philosophy of W. Edwards Deming has been summarized as follows:

  • "Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty. 
  • The key is to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces."
  • In the 1970s, Dr. Deming's philosophy was summarized by some of his Japanese proponents with the following 'a'-versus-'b' comparison:
  • When people and organizations focus primarily on quality, defined by the following ratio,
  •  Quality tends to increase and costs fall over time.
  • However, when people and organizations focus primarily on costs, costs tend to rise and quality declines over time.

14  techniques suggested by Deming to maintain total quality management.
1."Create constancy of purpose towards improvement". Replace short-term reaction with long-term planning. 
2."Adopt the new philosophy". The implication is that management should actually adopt his philosophy, rather than merely expect the workforce to do so.
3."Cease dependence on inspection". If variation is reduced, there is no need to inspect manufactured items for defects, because there won't be any. 

4."Move towards a single supplier for any one item." Multiple suppliers mean variation between feed stocks. 

5."Improve constantly and forever". Constantly strive to reduce variation. 

6."Institute training on the job". If people are inadequately trained, they will not all work the same way, and this will introduce variation. 
7."Institute leadership". Deming makes a distinction between leadership and mere supervision. The latter is quota- and target-based. 
8."Drive out fear". Deming sees management by fear as counter- productive in the long term, because it prevents workers from acting in the organization’s best interests. 
9."Break down barriers between departments". Another idea central to TQM is the concept of the 'internal customer', that each department serves not the management, but the other departments that use its outputs. 
10."Eliminate slogans". Another central TQM idea is that it's not people who make most mistakes - it's the process they are working within. Harassing the workforce without improving the processes they use is counter-productive. 
11."Eliminate management by objectives". Deming saw production targets as encouraging the delivery of poor-quality goods. 
12."Remove barriers to pride of workmanship". Many of the other problems outlined reduce worker satisfaction. 
13."Institute education and self-improvement". 
14."The transformation is everyone's job". 

Deming has been criticized for putting forward a set of goals without providing any tools for managers to use in order to reach those goals. His inevitable response to this question was: "You're the manager, you figure it out."

Emerging quality management issues and challenges:

  1. Redesign organizational structure:
  2. Workforce diversity
  3. Innovation and change
  4. Motivation of employees
  5. Knowledge management
  6. Technological development
  7. Improving quality of service
  8. Benchmarking
  9. Assurance of TQM


Unit 5 (P 42): Quality Management: concept, principles, method

Quality: 

  1. In manufacturing, a measure of excellence or a state of being free from defects, deficiencies, and significant variations, brought about by the strict and consistent adherence to measurable and verifiable standards to achieve uniformity of output that satisfies specific customer or user requirements is termed quality. 
  2. Quality is the perception of excellence viewed by the customers to satisfy their needs.
  3. It is sense of appreciation that a product or services is better than others.
  4. Success of business depends on quality, and organization needs to maintain and upgrade its system and processes to meet the customer's needs. 

Dimension of Quality:

  1. Performance: size, model, color, design, structure, and operating outcomes.
  2. Features: quality, price, or any secondary extra characteristics.
  3. Reliability: consistence performance of product, warranty and maintenance over a specified period.
  4. Conformance: Matching customer standards with the design and characteristics of product.
  5. Durability: useful life of product.
  6. Serviceability: Repair and maintenance service availability.
  7. Aesthetics: Subjective dimension; looks, taste, feel, sound, smell etc.
  8. Perceived quality: how customer perceive, in accordance to market standing, brand name, reputation etc.
Factor affecting quality: The widely known factors associated with quality management are:
  1. People: Quality of people 
  2. Materials: Quality of raw materials
  3. Equipments: Quality equipments, tools, and machine in the production process
  4. Innovation and design: Quality in innovation and design to meet the changing needs of customers
  5. Control system and standards: Quality in control system and standards should be designed and implemented.
  6. Work methods and technology: Quality operating system with standard processes and system to convert resources into products or services.
  7. Information: Quality information regarding customer expectations and the competitor’s quality standards.
  8. Policy: Quality policy regarding quality to be achieved in product or service.

Quality Management:

  1. It is the act of overseeing all activities and task needed to maintain a desired level of excellence. 
  2. It is set of procedure, process and system that are followed to ensure that the foods and services produced by a team are fit for its ultimate purpose.
  3. It starts with setting quality targets, in relation to needs of the customers.
  4. Quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement is carried to measure and report the actual quality and expected quality of goods and services.

Principles of quality management:

  1. Customer focus.
  2. System and process focus.
  3. Employee involvement.
  4. Employee development.
  5. Continuous improvement.
  6. Team work.
  7. Learning organization/ culture.
  8. Multiple causation and solution.
  9. Incorporation in strategic plan.
  10. Relation with suppliers and other stake holders.

Quality control: is natural phenomenon in the process form input to output.  It implies:

  1. Determining tolerances: the acceptable range within which deviations can occur
  2. Conducting inspection.
  3. Isolating acceptable units.
  4. Finding causes of deviations.
  5. Suggesting ways and means to improving quality.

Advantage of quality control:

  1. Directly reduce waste.
  2. To determine the defective outputs.
  3. It measures not only final product, but also the inputs.
  4. Increase quality control increases reliability (leads to higher prices) and increase productivity (leads to low cost of production). Ultimately leading to higher profit.

Methods of Quality control:

  1. Inspection: Periodic checking and measuring before, during, and after the production processes. Aims to identify, separate defective work and prevent it in future. It focus on:
    • Points of inspection
    • Reduction of inspection costs.
    • 100 % inspection
  2. Statistical quality control: Is sampling and probability techniques (quantitative tool) to maintain quality standard of products and service.


Unit 5 (P 41)Control system: types, process, managing information for effective control

Types of control:

  1. Pre –control system/ Feed forward controls: sometimes called preliminary or preventive controls, attempt to identify and prevent deviations in the standards before they occur. Per- control controls focus on human, material, and financial resources within the organization. These controls are evident in the selection and hiring of new employees. For example, organizations attempt to improve the likelihood that employees will perform up to standards by identifying the necessary job skills and by using tests and other screening devices to hire people with those skills.
  2. Pre-control focuses on the regulation of inputs to ensure that they meet the standards necessary for the transformation process.
    • Pre-control controls are desirable because they allow management to prevent problems rather than having to cure them later. Unfortunately, these controls require timely and accurate information that is often difficult to develop. Pre-control control also is sometimes called preliminary control, Feed forward, preventive control, or steering control.
  3. Concurrent controls: monitor ongoing employee activity to ensure consistency with quality standards. These controls rely on performance standards, rules, and regulations for guiding employee tasks and behaviors. Their purpose is to ensure that work activities produce the desired results. As an example, many manufacturing operations include devices that measure whether the items being produced meet quality standards. Employees monitor the measurements; if they see that standards are not being met in some area, they make a correction themselves or let a manager know that a problem is occurring.
    • Concurrent control takes place while an activity is in progress. It involves the regulation of ongoing activities that are part of transformation process to ensure that they conform to organizational standards. Concurrent control is designed to ensure that employee work activities produce the correct results.
    • Since concurrent control involves regulating ongoing tasks, it requires a thorough understanding of the specific tasks involved and their relationship to the desired and product. Concurrent control sometimes is called screening or yes-no control, because it often involves checkpoints at which determinations are made about whether to continue progress, take corrective action, or stop work altogether on products or services.
  4. Feedback controls:  Involve reviewing information to determine whether performance meets established standards. For example, suppose that an organization establishes a goal of increasing its profit by 12 percent next year. To ensure that this goal is reached, the organization must monitor its profit on a monthly basis. After three months, if profit has increased by 3 percent, management might assume that plans are going according to schedule.
    • This type of control focuses on the outputs of the organization after transformation is complete. Sometimes called post action or output control, fulfils a number of important functions. For one thing, it often is used when Feed forward and concurrent controls are not feasible or are too costly.
    • Sometimes, feedback is the only viable type of control available. Moreover, feedback has two advantages over Feed forward and concurrent control. First, feedback provides managers with meaningful information on how effective its planning effort was. If feedback indicates little variance between standard and actual performance, this is evidence that planning was generally on target.
    • If the deviation is great, a manager can use this information when formulating new plans to make them more effective. Second, feedback control can enhance employees’ motivation. The major drawback of this type of control is that, the time the manager has the information and if there is significant problem the damage is already done. But for many activities, feedback control fulfils number of important functions.


The control process
The control process involves carefully collecting information about a system, process, person, or group of people in order to make necessary decisions about each. Managers set up control systems that consist of four key steps:
  1. Establish standards to measure performance: - Standards are the plans or the targets which have to be achieved in the course of business function. They can also be called as the criterions for judging the performance. Standards generally are classified into two-
    • Measurable or tangible - Those standards which can be measured and expressed are called as measurable standards. They can be in form of cost, output, expenditure, time, profit, etc.
    • Non-measurable or intangible- There are standards which cannot be measured monetarily. For example- performance of a manager, deviation of workers, their attitudes towards a concern. These are called as intangible standards.
    • Controlling becomes easy through establishment of these standards because controlling is exercised on the basis of these standards. Managers define goals for organizational departments in specific, operational terms that include standards of performance to compare with organizational activities.
  2. Measure actual performance: Finding out deviations becomes easy through measuring the actual performance. Performance levels are sometimes easy to measure and sometimes difficult. Measurement of tangible standards is easy as it can be expressed in units, cost, money terms, etc. Quantitative measurement becomes difficult when performance of manager has to be measured. 
    • Most organizations prepare formal reports of performance measurements that manager’s review regularly. These measurements should be related to the standards set in the first step of the control process. For example, if sales growth is a target, the organization should have a means of gathering and reporting sales data.
  3. Compare performance with the standards: This step compares actual activities to performance standards. When managers read computer reports or walk through their plants, they identify whether actual performance meets, exceed, or fall short of standards or deviated from standard. Deviation can be defined as the gap between actual performance and the planned targets. The manager has to find out two things here- extent of deviation and cause of deviation. Extent of deviation means that the manager has to find out whether the deviation is positive or negative or whether the actual performance is in conformity with the planned performance. The managers have to exercise control by exception. He has to find out those deviations which are critical and important for business. Minor deviations have to be ignored.
  4. Take corrective actions: Once the causes and extent of deviations are known, the manager has to detect those errors and take remedial measures for it. There are two alternatives here-
    • Taking corrective measures for deviations which have occurred; and
    • After taking the corrective measures, if the actual performance is not in conformity with plans, the manager can revise the targets. It is here the controlling process comes to an end. 
Follow up is an important step because it is only through taking corrective measures, a manager can exercise controlling.
When performance deviates from standards, managers must determine what changes, if any, are necessary and how to apply them. In the productivity and quality-centered environment, workers and managers are often empowered to evaluate their own work. After the evaluator determines the cause or causes of deviation, he or she can take the fourth step—corrective action. The most effective course may be prescribed by policies or may be best left up to employees' judgment and initiative.
These steps must be repeated periodically until the organizational goal is achieved


Managing control in organization:

  • Initiate effective control: Determine the rational control system.
  • Appropriate focus: focus should be Reward for efficiency
  • Parity in authority and responsibility
  • Participative management
  • Proper coordination
  • Effective communication


Managing Information for effective control:

  1. MIS: Management information system is a network established within an organization to provide manager with information that will assist them in decision making. Management information systems are distinct from other information systems in that they are used to analyze operational activities in the organization. MIS is a type of link that assists in the communication between managers of various disciplines in a business firm or an organization. MIS focuses more on the information gathered and the information that has poured from different quarters. MIS focuses on operational efficiency. MIS is all about theory. Steps in MIS are:
    • Assembly: searching and collecting raw data and putting them into file
    • Processing: the act of editing and summarizing to data
    • Analysis: Examining and scrutinizing the data into useful statistics such as percentage, ratio etc.
    • Storage and retrieval: properly storing of information using proper file storage system for retrieval as needed.
    • Evaluation: the evaluation of the data with the standard.
    • Dissemination:  Providing the evaluated information as per the need at different level of the organization.
  2. DSS: A decision support system (DSS) is a computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to make decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance. DSS focuses more on making effective decision or in other words helping the company to do the right thing. DSS is all about practice and analysis.
    1. A Decision Support System (DSS), a collection of integrated software applications and hardware that form the backbone of an organization’s decision making process. Companies across all industries rely on decision support tools, techniques, and models to help them assess and resolve everyday business questions. The decision support system is data-driven, as the entire process feeds off of the collection and availability of data to analyze. Business Intelligence (BI) reporting tools, processes, and methodologies are key components to any decision support system and provide end users with rich reporting, monitoring, and data analysis. High-level Decision Support System Requirements:
      • Data collection from multiple sources (sales data, inventory data, supplier data, market research data. etc.)
      • Data formatting and collation.
      • A suitable database location and format built for decision support -based reporting and analysis
      • Robust tools and applications to report, monitor, and analyze the data
      • Decision support systems have become critical and ubiquitous across all types of business. In today’s global marketplace, it is imperative that companies respond quickly to market changes. Companies with comprehensive decision support systems have a significant competitive advantage.