José G.
Vargas-Hernández
University Center
for Economic and Managerial Sciences, University of Guadalajara, Mexico
E-mail:
jvargas2006@gmail.com, jjosevargas@cucea.udg.mx
Patricia Calderón
Campos
Instituto
Tecnológico de Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico
E-mail: patriciatecmx@gmail.com
Felipe Palomares
Salceda
Instituto
Tecnológico de Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico
E-mail: fpalomares@yahoo.mx
Rebeca Almanza
Jiménez
Instituto
Tecnológico de Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico
E-mail:
patriciatecmx@gmail.com
Submission: 24/01/2017
Revision: 17/02/2017
Accept: 20/02/2017
ABSTRACT
This article aims to analyze the different
trends and models of the current quality management systems, identifying areas
of opportunity in these to establish proposals for care that give rise to a new
management system, flexible, efficient and effective Supported by a system of
sociotechnical work. The competitive climate in today's business has multiplied
significantly in the face of the dynamics of change and the presence of ever
shorter business cycles. It is a fact that in the last decades the market has
been acquiring an increasing dynamism. Today, companies are developing in a
more competitive national and international economy, with increasing demands
for productivity, where market laws force them to deepen and change strategies
and policies, to plan, create and innovate, to have a high degree of resilience
and Sensitivity to anticipate future needs and to be able to survive and
develop in a complex and increasingly competitive environment. In these times
the markets are increasingly informed, so their expectations are increasingly
demanding, for this reason is that quality becomes a differentiating element
and at the same time the key factor of a company's lasting success.
Keywords: Quality, design,
management systems.
1. INTRODUCTION
The
concept of quality and its different approaches have evolved from what was the
quality inspection (reaction), until what today is called Total Quality Management
(excellence). Two major trends in Quality Management coexist in today's
environment. The first trend has to do with adopting a standardization approach
and designing a quality system based on standards, such as those of the ISO
9000 series. The second trend has to do with an increasingly used approach that
is the consideration of some of the models that underlie the quality awards as
a basis for quality management.
Both
tendencies with their approaches and models present gaps that cause problems of
functionality in the organizations that operate them without being able to
reach the expected results. To fill the gaps detected in these trends and with
the firm conviction of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the
management systems, specific proposals are established regarding the
identification, establishment, operation and measurement of the processes that
integrate them. On the other hand, it establishes the need for quality
management systems to focus on the imperative need to generate and bring to the
highest levels motivation and job satisfaction in the understanding that
sustained attractiveness is only achieved with motivated and satisfied workers.
Finally, it is necessary to design or redesign the work
system that supports the management system according to the nature of the
company as to whether it is new or is in operation. For the design or redesign,
the fundamentals and principles on which the model must be built are
established, considering also for this purpose a socio-technical approach, for
the evidence that exists regarding the approach that helps organizations to
create new structures, workflows and environments that are collaborative,
integrated and capable of handling rapid technological changes.
A final consideration is mentioned when establishing that
in order to design and implement a work system of this type, a new conception
around the work is necessary, as well as the way in which the contents and the
tasks to be carried out in the work are described.
2. QUALITY
When speaking of quality, this word is incorporated in
human language as a symbol of excellence; it is what allows a person, a product
or a service to be well recommended. It has become a philosophy of life and is
reflected in our family, academic, work and commercial environment. The word
quality has multiple meanings (JURAN; GRYNA, 1993). Therefore, it can be stated
that quality is the set of characteristics of products that satisfy the needs
of customers and, therefore, make the product satisfactory; "Degree of fulfillment
of requirements" for this reason is valued in percentage.
For Jablonsky (1995), Quality is a cooperative way of
operating companies, which is based on the talents and abilities of both the
worker and the management to continuously improve quality and productivity,
using work teams. It also mentions these principles: User's point of view,
attention in the process, as well as in results, prevention versus inspection,
mobilizing knowledge of the workforce, fact-based decision making, and
feedback.
2.1.
Dimensions
of quality
It is important, at the beginning of the quality process,
to determine in which dimensions of quality, the quality assurance effort will
take place. It is referred to the following dimensions:
a)
Professional competence
It refers to the capacity and performance of the group
functions of the organization. That is, if people have the capacity and the
knowledge necessary to carry out the tasks. It involves the administrative,
technical and support staff. To overcome technical procedures that is involved.
2.2.
Customer
satisfaction (user)
It refers to the relationships between suppliers and
customers. These relationships are those that produce trust, credibility, and
are demonstrated through respect, confidentiality, courtesy, understanding.
Also, listening and communicating are important.
2.3.
Efficiency
When
services are efficient they are said to provide more optimal care to the user
and the community. That is, they provide the greatest benefit within the
resources with which it is counted. Two ways of improving quality in this
dimension are presented. This is to eliminate waste and avoid mistakes while
reducing costs.
2.4.
Continuity
Services
must be offered consistently and with the same quality.
2.5.
Security
It
involves reducing risks through the establishment of safe processes.
2.6.
Contort
They
increase customer satisfaction and its desire to return to the organization to
receive care in the future. The comforts are also important because they can
influence the expectations that the user has and the confidence that he feels
in relation to other aspects of the service or product. They are often related
to the physical aspect of the organization, staff and materials, as well as
with the physical comforts, cleanliness and privacy.
The quality in the companies begins with the training of
the personnel in the knowledge and management of the norms, followed by the
creation of control points, from the reception of the materials to the
after-sales service. These controls produce results that are analyzed by the
directives to make decisions or implement corrective actions.
Some of its advantages are:
a) It improves the production time in the companies.
b) Keep materials and supplies in good condition.
c) Reduce production costs.
d) It increases the possibility of negotiation.
e) It guarantees the positioning of the product in the
markets.
f) Increase the profitability of the company.
According to the environment in which the organizations
move, the quality in the products and the services has become a fundamental
factor for the success of the modern organizations. Organizations create a
product or service for the purpose of meeting the needs or requirements of
customers. These requirements have to be operationalized and transformed into
technical specifications. The demand by the customers towards the fulfillment
of the requirements that must satisfy the products and the services is every
day greater at world-wide level. To meet this demand, and also to obtain
economic returns, it is necessary to improve quality in a systematic way.
3. Quality and current management systems
Quality is a constant in today's language. Everyone
accepts that if does not work with quality the organization is in danger. In
ever more competitive markets, quality becomes a differentiating element
capable of generating sustainable competitive advantages in companies. If
quality is the main requirement for a company's long-term success, it seems
appropriate to consider how it is achieved (CELA, 1996).
Given the dynamic nature of
today's markets, it is clear that quality requires an attitude of permanent
innovation. Drucker (1955) argues about innovation considering that it is not
spontaneous but is born of "real work", that is, of daily work. For
Kim and Mauborgne (2005), value innovation is the simultaneous pursuit of
radically superior value for customers, and cost reduction. It means making
customers' lives much simpler, more productive, more comfortable, and more fun,
with fewer risks and all respecting the environment.
Today, management models must lead organizations
according to their nature to deliver attractive quality that is as close as
possible to meet or exceed customer expectations. By the market movement
itself, what today is attractive tomorrow may not be, so its maintenance is
based on the search for technological innovations, products and services.
The concept of quality and the different approaches that
started in quality inspection (reaction), up to what is now known as Total
Quality Management (excellence) have evolved towards an increasingly global
vision, so it has become a strategic factor (DALE, 1994). Faced with this
reality, the fundamental question that arises is to analyze how this importance
of quality in business practice translates.
The generation of quality and quality improvement do not
arise spontaneously, but of a structure of activities in the organization in
order to achieve this goal. This set of activities is what is called Quality
Management. A quality management system is a set of mutually related or
interacting elements to direct and control an organization with respect to
quality (ISO-9000: 2005, 2007).
In the current environment, two major trends in Quality
Management coexist, which provide two different models. Each model is an
instrument that helps organizations to establish a management system based on
total quality (CLAVER; TARÍ, 1999). The first trend has to do with adopting a
standardization approach and designing a quality system based on standards,
such as the ISO 9000 series.
The
second trend has to do with an increasingly approach, each time more used, it
is the consideration of some of the models that underlie quality awards as the
basis for quality management (CLAVER; TARÍ,
1999). A common factor that forms part of the essence of each of these
approaches is to encourage total quality management, as a method of obtaining
competitive advantages, with a customer orientation.
Today,
standardized management systems and, to a lesser extent, non-standardized but
not exempt systems have been seen as generating excessive bureaucracy. With
excessive regulations, methodologies and bureaucratic controls, only the
innovative initiative is frozen, curtailing actions. These management systems
come to have a sense of "straitjackets" for employees and the system
of work on which they are built scarcely generates workers with a high sense of
motivation and job satisfaction.
Central
to quality management systems is analyzing processes with a systemic approach
and vision. An organization will be as efficient or inefficient as its
processes and it is here that lays the key to the quality, productivity and
competitiveness of companies. Due to the impact and importance of the processes
in a management system and in the work system that supports it, it is necessary
that they be "sanitized" in order to achieve the goals and objectives
set, in such a way that they are constituted by two types of main activities
which are those that bring value to the client and those that add value to the
organization. "Parasitic" activities must be eliminated. This speaks
of process innovation.
Another
key factor in current management systems is the measurement of processes, in
order to determine their efficiency, effectiveness and performance. The current
measurements used in the business field to measure efficiency and
effectiveness, practically lack value without being compared.
For
Perez (2004), it is necessary to leave aside the measurements that imply
current performance against the past and current performance against their
counterparts, to focus on a current performance measurement system against the
best at the international level. As much as possible replace the indicators in
percent, to work and adopt the indicators in number of times.
The
efficient and effective operation of the processes to achieve the required
level of performance depends on the competence and the necessary skills of the
personnel who operate them. So it is necessary to provide training and training
not in the traditional way, which it is diverted from the process, without
monitoring, measuring and evaluating its impact on productivity, but preparing
them to achieve the desired levels of productivity. The training should be
evaluated by productivity in the company. In this regard (PÉREZ, 2004), state
that the training must be mounted on the process of transformation, in the
closest field of work without closing the cycle until verifying that the person
has learned
4. QUALITY, SATISFACTION AND WORK MOTIVATION
At
present the experience shows that attractive quality and competitive value
advantage with innovation, it is only possible to generate it with motivated
and satisfied workers. The competitive advantage is achieved from the dual
orientation: consumer satisfaction and the development of people (PÉREZ, 2004).
Given
this reality, it is undeniable that management models and systems develop
activities that generate true motivation and job satisfaction. To continue to
satisfy consumers, the organization must continually respond to changes in
market demand through a flexible working system. In a world of rapidly changing
markets, flexibility is the key to effective organizational design. That is,
the company must be a company with a high degree of resilience.
An
orientation towards people's development can provide the flexibility to respond
continuously to changes in the market. According to Pérez (2004), subjective
measures should be dispensed with for job satisfaction. Instead, job
satisfaction should be measured in terms of productivity.
With
regard to labor motivation, Hackman and Oldham (1980) establish that there are
three psychological states experienced by a person that in his work generate
motivation and job satisfaction. These states have to do with (1) experiences
of the significance of the activity. The individual must perceive that his work
is worth or is important through a system of values that he accepts, 2)
responsibility experiences: He must believe that he personally is responsible
for the results of his own efforts and 3) knowledge of the results: He must be
able to determine on an acceptably regular basis if the results of his work is
or is not satisfactory.
When
these three conditions are present, the person tends to feel very good about
him if he acts well. Then the internal motivation for work, satisfaction and
quality of work are high and absenteeism and fluctuation are low. According to
Hackman and Oldham (1980), there are five "essential" features of
work that attract these previously described psychological states. These five
core dimensions have a high potential to motivate people to do their jobs.
Three
of the five essential dimensions contribute to giving significance to work for
the worker.
a) Variety of skills: Degree in which an employment
requires the worker to develop activities that retain his skills and ingenuity,
b) Identification of the task: Degree in which the
work requires to be understood as a finished and identifiable piece of the same
work, doing the work from the beginning to the end with a visible result,
c) Task significance: The degree to which work has a
substantial and perceptible impact on the lives of other people, both in the
immediate organization and in the world at large (Hackman and Oldham, 1980). A
fourth central dimension, continues the author, leads the worker to experience
a high responsibility in his work, this is:
d) Autonomy: The degree to which work gives the worker
freedom, independence and discretion in the scheduling of work and the
determination of how to carry it out. The fifth and last essential dimension
is:
e) Feedback: This is the degree to which a worker
carrying out the work activities required by his position obtains information
about the effectiveness of his efforts.
While it is true that quality can be a trigger in the
success of an organization, it is also convenient to consider that what makes a
company win in the market is not quality, but what generates it. Quality is
generated through an organizational change of depth, that is, quality is a
consequence of an organizational change and organizational change begins with
the redesign of systems and therefore of work systems.
For Pérez (2004) redesigning requires the restructuring
of the work system and restructuring must be done in such a way that man can
bring his full potential and honor him as an individual. The system of work
designed and implemented is solely responsible for the problems that exist in
an organization and the behavior of people, as it represents the basis of the
organizational culture.
Due to the above, the design or, if applicable, the
redesign of the current work system, should be aimed at developing cultures
with competitive advantages, with a high resilient sense and characterized by
high performance and high commitment. One approach capable of giving birth to
this type of work is the socio-technical approach. The reason for leaning on
this approach is based on the fact that it has led the major transformations
that are being experienced in the developed world over the past 20 years.
By leaning towards the design of a work system with a
socio-technical approach, it is necessary to specify some fundamentals under
which the system must be constructed. These fundamentals are: a) the design or
redesign depending on the case, is facilitated leaving these in the hands of the
workers (as long as there is retribution). The reason is that when staff
designs its own systems of work, it becomes the protagonist of its own destiny.
b) The work designs must be constructed considering the 5 dimensions mentioned
by Hackman and Oldham (1980).
With regard to the design of work systems with
competitive advantages, Sherwood (1985) considers that organizations that want
to improve productivity and quality of life in the workplace need to know how
the work system itself is designed and how people are organized to fulfill
their tasks. This author states that there are two fundamental questions to
achieve the above, these are: The design of the work itself and the structure
of the work organizations. These issues, when considered, create planned and
successful work cultures with competitive advantages, cultures characterized by
energy learning and quality.
The designs and redesigns must be realized where the
majority can develop. It is necessary first to eliminate the problems in order
to design or redesign a work system with a socio-technical approach. Sherwood
(1995) argues that in order to implement this form of society, management must
change its ways of thinking mainly in three areas: In its way of seeing people,
its way of seeing work, and its way of seeing the role of management. As for
the people, a notion that must be abandoned is that there are two kinds of
people in the world of work: leaders and workers. As for work, look at primary
resources in the design of work to those who are closest to the work, the
people who are doing the work now and will do so in the future.
Finally the Role of management, in this aspect, leaders
need every day to be flexible enough to change in order to meet the needs that
are developed in the new system of work. Leaders should focus their attention
on the outside instead of inward, that is, they should look outside the work
process instead of addressing the internal demands of the work. The role of
management changes to supporting culture rather than controlling the workforce
5. THE SOCIO-TECHNICAL WORK SYSTEM
The
socio-technical approach helps organizations to create new structures,
workflows, and environments that are collaborative, integrated, and able to
handle rapid technological change (DOYLE, 1989). In the design of the
socio-technical work system, it is necessary to guarantee the optimization of
the three components: Social, technical and environment (PÉREZ; GALIS, 2002).
In
this way, the optimization of the complete system is achieved. Deepening the
social system and considering the proposal put forward by Pérez and Galis
(2002), some important principles of the socio-technical approach that must be
taken into account for the design of work systems are:
a) Consider
work processes as open systems, in permanent interaction with the environment,
not only general and broader, the external, but also with the immediate, the
internal.
b) Use
few levels of hierarchy and many levels of equality.
c) View
the organization as workflow and not as a complex of hierarchical levels.
d) The
work should be designed in such a way that there are minimal interfaces.
e) A
system of gates.
The
socio-technical system, Pérez and Galis (2002) continue to argue, should be
designed in such a way that when an error occurs, the gates are closed
immediately, thus preventing the error from continuing through the flow.
a) The
self-design. A basic premise of the socio-technical approach is that the
organization's new designs cannot be imposed by external agents. The ideal
people to design a flow are the workers themselves.
b) Indicate
for the design of work systems only the minimum critical specifications.
c) Continuous
redesign.
d) The
feedback. Feedback is information about the differences between desired
outcomes and actual outcomes, which is used to improve performance. The
feedback in this sense must be frequent, close to the facts and with positive
reinforcement.
e) Consider
everyone as customers. In order to design and implement a work system of this
type, a new conception around work is needed, as well as the way in which the
contents and tasks to be performed in a job are described. Today it is thought
that the work should not be described, but the result expected of it.
6. CONCLUSIONS
At present the markets are increasingly informed, so
their expectations are becoming more demanding, giving rise in the business
environment to increasingly competitive environments, that is why quality
becomes a differentiating element and at the same time in the key factor of a
company's lasting success. Quality, even when it has been defined and
conceptualized from different angles and perspectives, is finally defined by
the client himself who defines it from a perspective of comparison.
Hence, if the concept has a comparative nature, quality
requires an attitude of permanent innovation. Innovation must take place in the
daily work done by an organization. The result of this should be the generation
and delivery of an attractive quality with radically superior value for the
clients that imply making the life of the clients much simpler, more
productive, more comfortable, and more fun, with fewer risks.
To achieve this, it implies establishing a management
system with a systemic vision and thinking and a new perspective on the
identification, design, measurement and operation of processes. This new
perspective must consider the reorganization and conformation of the processes
by activities that generate value for both the client and the organization
avoiding the parasitic activities.
On the other hand the measurement of these, should focus
on a system of measurement of current performance against the best at the
international level and to the extent possible replace the indicators in
percent, to work and adopt indicators in number of times, contrary one can fall
into a conformism. In order for processes to be operated efficiently and
effectively and to achieve established goals and objectives, it is imperative
to prepare people to achieve desired levels of productivity through continuous
training, which must be built on the process of processing, tracking, measuring
and evaluating their impact on productivity.
Taking into consideration that quality becomes a
differentiating element capable of generating sustainable competitive
advantages in companies, it is inescapable to have the full conviction that the
delivery of an attractive quality and the development of a competitive value
advantage with innovation are only possible with motivated and satisfied
workers. Labor satisfaction, rather than being measured by subjective means, must
be measured in terms of productivity. When productivity levels are at least
desired, it becomes apparent that people are motivated and satisfied.
Motivation
and job satisfaction is something that must be achieved through the design of a
system of work that considers the five dimensions proposed by Hackman and
Oldham (1980) in order that the work can achieve that the worker experiences
the three psychological states factors that make internal motivation for work,
satisfaction and quality of work high and low absenteeism and fluctuation.
The
design of this system of work and its implementation should generate a sense of
belonging on the part of the worker and this must be generated through their
involvement in the design of their own work, as these are the closest to it. In
addition to which are the people who are doing the work now and will do it in
the future. With respect to the leadership exercised by the organization, it is
necessary to change its perspective regarding the way of thinking about the people,
the work and the role of management. When this is done, the role of leadership
changes to support culture rather than controlling the workforce.
Finally, being aware that quality is a consequence of an
organizational change, which begins with the redesign of systems and these
redesigns in turn requires the restructuring of the work system, the new work
system product either design or redesign, must be such as to help organizations
create new structures, workflows, and environments that are collaborative,
integrated, and capable of handling rapid technological change.
It is for this reason that the system of work must be
designed under the socio-technical approach and the principles that govern it,
same that have been described previously. In order to design and implement a
work system of this type, a new conception around work is necessary, as well as
the way in which the contents and the tasks to be performed in a job are
described.
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