Get premium membership and access questions with answers, video lessons as well as revision papers.
i. A systems approach:
Managers must be responsible for three systems-the social or cultural system, the managerial system and the technical system.
ii. The tools of TQM:
These include statistical quality control, fishbone diagram (diagram used to organize and show the visually the possible causes of a problem or event; cause-and-effect diagram; Ishikawa diagram) and benchmarking (the process of finding the best available product features, processes, and services and using them as a standard for improving a company’s own products, processes, and services).
iii. A focus on customers:
If customer needs are not the starting point of the quality management process, using the tools of quality may result in products and services that no one wants to buy. Quality refers to “fitness for use”-the ability of a product or service to satisfy a customer’s real needs. By focusing on real needs, managers and workers can concentrate their efforts where it really matters.
iv. The role of management:
Many managers begin with the assumption that where there is a quality problem, the workers or some individual (manager or worker) is to blame. However, TQM implies that when there is a quality problem, it begins in the boardroom and in the offices of the senior managers and others who do not take quality seriously enough. For instance, until the system that is the cause of a particular failure in quality can be identified, management cannot do its job. It is every manager’s job to seek out and correct the causes of failure, rather than merely identify failures after they occur and affix blame to someone.
v. Employee participation:
Having the support and attention of senior management remains a necessary condition for making quality management work in an organization, but without empowered employees, it won’t go very far. Empowerment stands for a substantial change that businesses are implementing. It means letting employees make decisions at all levels of an organization without asking for approval from managers. The idea is quite simple: the people who actually do a job, whether it is running a complex machine or providing a simple service, are in the best position to learn how to do that job the best way. Therefore, when there is a chance to improve the job or the systems of which a job is a part, people should make those improvements without asking for permission.
vi. Quality is everybody’s responsibility and it is customer driven not organization driven.
vii. There is real commitment to a continuous improvement of all processes.
viii. Communication is excellent and multi-way – people can freely air their news and concerns
ix. Attention is focused first on the process and second on results.
x. There is an absence of strict control systems.
Kavungya answered the question on April 27, 2021 at 11:20
- SOUND HEALTH LIMITED
Sound Health Ltd. is a private company that deals with manufacturing and selling of anti-mosquito treated bed-nets.
The company distributes the nets in and...(Solved)
SOUND HEALTH LIMITED
Sound Health Ltd. is a private company that deals with manufacturing and selling of anti-mosquito treated bed-nets.
The company distributes the nets in and outside Kenya.
The chief executive of Sound Health Ltd. has stated that the objective of the company will be “to supply the best possible product to the greatest number of consumers at the lowest possible cost”.
The lowest possible cost will only be achieved by introducing a number of radical changes which will affect employees, shareholders and management. The ultimate goal will be to improve the efficiency of operations.
The holders of this view who include the chief executive are people who joined Sound Health Ltd. recently and have not stayed in the organization for more than three years. This group is small in number but they are quite influential.
The “newcomers” have had extensive private sector business experience where managerial internal controls are strict and well established.
This is in contrast with what has been happening at Sound Health Ltd., where there are many loopholes and contradictory systems of control.
Required:
a) Explain the reasons why the chief executive may realize that the interests of customers could conflict with efforts to serve the shareholders.
b) Explain the role of a manager in reducing operational costs in an organization.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Describe ways in which managerial functions enhance productivity in the organization.(Solved)
Describe ways in which managerial functions enhance productivity in the organization.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Suggest the measures that management may adopt to overcome constraints.(Solved)
Suggest the measures that management may adopt to overcome constraints.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- What are the constraints to effective planning?(Solved)
What are the constraints to effective planning?
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Explain the relationship between corporate strategic plans and operational plans.(Solved)
Explain the relationship between corporate strategic plans and operational plans.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- How can management overcome barriers to effective implementation of innovation and change in an organization.(Solved)
How can management overcome barriers to effective implementation of innovation and change in an organization.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- The manager is frequently faced with the task of introducing change in the organization.
What are the reasons for innovation and change in the organization?(Solved)
The manager is frequently faced with the task of introducing change in the organization.
What are the reasons for innovation and change in the organization?
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Liberalization has opened the doors to global expansion.
a) Outline the difficulties an organization may encounter when seeking global expansion.
b) What skills should a manager posses...(Solved)
Liberalization has opened the doors to global expansion.
a) Outline the difficulties an organization may encounter when seeking global expansion.
b) What skills should a manager posses in order to overcome difficulties?
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Your organization has identified a need in the market, which it seeks to satisfy through new product.
a) State and describe the stages in new product...(Solved)
Your organization has identified a need in the market, which it seeks to satisfy through new product.
a) State and describe the stages in new product development.
b) What factors contribute to the success of new product development?
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Identify and explain the sources of managerial power.(Solved)
Identify and explain the sources of managerial power.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Explain the responsibilities of a production engineer in an organization.(Solved)
Explain the responsibilities of a production engineer in an organization.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Write short notes on the following:
i) Job production
ii) Mass production
iii) Batch production(Solved)
Write short notes on the following:
i) Job production
ii) Mass production
iii) Batch production
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Ngura works as a research and development manager in a manufacturing firm. He joined the firm five years ago as a research assistant. The organization...(Solved)
Ngura works as a research and development manager in a manufacturing firm. He joined the firm five years ago as a research assistant. The organization for which Ngura works has a policy whereby vacant positions are filled from within the organization.
Management relies on the outcome of performance appraisals to identify employees for promotion. The appraisals are carried out annually. The appraisal exercise of the organization has not been dome objectively and superiors have been awarding grades arbitrarily. Many of the employees have been awarded high grades even when their performance does not deserve high grades.
Early in the year, the position of the head of the research and development department fell vacant and employees were encouraged to apply for the job. Ngura felt capable of performing the job, applied and was invited for an interview. Consequently he was awarded the promotion and took up the post of head of research and development department.
It has become apparent that Ngura is not very co-operative with staff in other departments. In his own department he over delegates to his subordinates because he is incapable of handling the tasks involved in the higher job. There have been occasions when assistants have not completed work to the satisfaction of management but when asked to explain, Ngura explains that employees know what is expected of them and they should therefore work, for they are paid for it.
Required:
a) State and explain the guidelines that management should have followed to ensure the success of the performance appraisal.
b) Identify and explain the weaknesses in Ngura’s style of management and suggest measures that should be taken to address the weaknesses.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Managers charged with putting a company on a growth trajectory can pursue its existing markets (customer sales) or enter new markets and can emphasize its...(Solved)
Managers charged with putting a company on a growth trajectory can pursue its existing markets (customer sales) or enter new markets and can emphasize its existing products or develop new products.
Using Ansoff’s classic product/market matrix, discuss the risks and rewards of the four growth alternatives.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Explain ten major forces that have been responsible for the sweeping changes and re-organizations that have been taking place in Kenyan firms in the recent...(Solved)
Explain ten major forces that have been responsible for the sweeping changes and re-organizations that have been taking place in Kenyan firms in the recent past.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Modern trends and practices call for firms to pursue wider objectives in addition to the global profitability. Explain the concept of corporate social responsibility and...(Solved)
Modern trends and practices call for firms to pursue wider objectives in addition to the global profitability. Explain the concept of corporate social responsibility and discuss the various components that a socially responsible firm should address.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- Leadership is a dynamic process in a group or organization whereby one individual influences the other to contribute voluntarily to the achievement of the group...(Solved)
Leadership is a dynamic process in a group or organization whereby one individual influences the other to contribute voluntarily to the achievement of the group or the organization’s objectives in a given situation.
Discuss this statement with reference to different types of leaders.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- One of the functions of management is decision making.
Discuss various types of decisions taken by managers and explain the steps that should be followed to...(Solved)
One of the functions of management is decision making.
Discuss various types of decisions taken by managers and explain the steps that should be followed to arrive at the right decisions.
Date posted: April 27, 2021. Answers (1)
- A key element in the effective implementation of corporate strategies is the design of the organizational structure of the firm or the organization.
Discuss each of...(Solved)
A key element in the effective implementation of corporate strategies is the design of the organizational structure of the firm or the organization.
Discuss each of the following types of organizational structure:
a)Holding Company structure;
b)The Functional structure;
c)The matrix structure; and
d)The multi-divisional structure.
Date posted: April 26, 2021. Answers (1)
- The principal of Management by Objectives was first coined by Peter F. Druker in the 1950’s. Describe the principle and its merits and demerits in...(Solved)
The principal of Management by Objectives was first coined by Peter F. Druker in the 1950’s. Describe the principle and its merits and demerits in the organizations.
Date posted: April 26, 2021. Answers (1)