Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – July,2017

Welcome to July, 2017 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

While searching for the articles of general interest on the topic of quality, I came up on:

The Single Biggest Problem in Communication…… Is the illusion that it has taken place quotes Gwendolyn Galsworth while pinpointing one complaint—the one problem—that nearly every company puts at (or very near) the top of its list of challenges…We … understand that part of the power in an empowered workforce was the parity created when information is reliably and repeatedly shared. When that information is made visual by design, it becomes a tangible and indispensable part of the business model…Visuality is about meaning and understanding, not simply seeing. A visual workplace embeds meaning into the dynamic landscape of work.

Visuality, as a concept, was new to me. Si I probed further and came up with:

Simplifying complex management structures to foster better working relationships – The Mobiliteit & Openbare werken (MOW) (Mobility and Public Works) department of the Flemish government in Belgium aims to support policy makers, agencies, and civil society with their expertise. MOW was looking for a way to internally show their employees how they fit into the organization’s complex overall management structure. After a couple of initial iterations aimed at getting to the core of the narrative, what came up as the end product was this:

And then I could link the word ‘visual’ with the process of continual improvement:

How Data Visualization Benefits Your Continuous Improvement Culture – Henrik Kjærulff – In a continuous improvement culture we expect people to base their decisions upon data – especially when it comes to problem solving….When we give everyone on the shop floor easy access to data, we’ll support a constant focus on a data-driven approach to problem solving and make it easy for people to make decisions based on data. Visualized data is easy to interpret into information.

That gave me an opportunity to brush up the memory:

11 Rapid Continuous Improvement Tools Explained – Greg Jacobson – Please read the article for more detailed information on each tool and dive deep into one that suits your requirements.

We will now turn to our regular sections:

For the present episode we have picked up the article – The Secret to Building an Opportunity-Focused Organization @ the column The Drucker Perspective @ Management Matters Network. It’s an enduring truth: A successful organization is opportunity-focused, not problem-focused…Resources, to produce results, must be allocated to opportunities rather than problems. This is one of Peter F. Drucker’s most important principles for sustained success:

“An organization will have a high spirit of performance if it is consistently directed toward opportunity rather than toward problems. It will have the thrill of excitement…Of course, problems cannot be neglected. But the problem-focused organization is an organization on the defensive. It is an organization that feels it has performed well if things do not get worse….A management that wants to create and maintain the spirit of achievement therefore stresses opportunity. But it will also demand that opportunities be converted into results.”

From Ask The Experts, I have picked up a question –“Shall Be Determined” in 9001”. The reply states that According to the Oxford Dictionary:  Determine means to “Ascertain or establish exactly be research or calculation”, Merriam Webster has a similar definition:  “to find out about or come to a conclusion about by investigation, reasoning, or calculation…There does not need to be a procedure about how things are determined.  The output, or the determination itself, will serve as evidence that you did it. .. For example, if you are a hospital, and you “determine” that surgeons do not need to wash their hands, you should be subject to a non-conformance for getting that wrong.

In our ASQ CEO, Bill Troy column this time there is a topic – As Industry 4.0 continues to evolve, what can quality professionals do to ensure they will be an integral asset throughout this industrial revolution? – that we need to take up for a more –in-depth view (in our next month’s episode)

We now watch the latest ASQ TV  episodes:

• Benchmarking – We learn the basics of benchmarking, review the recommended six phases of a successful benchmarking process, and finally, we get reacquainted with one vital ingredient in benchmarking: metrics
• Quality Tools—Seven Old and Seven New: Get acquainted or reacquainted with the old and the new—quality tools, that is.

“Building From the Basics”, QP, 2009
“The Quality Toolbox, Second Edition”, Nancy R. Tague, 2005
“Beyond the Basics”, QP, 2012
The 7 Basic Quality Tools for Process Improvement
Seven New Management and Planning Tools

Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems for the month of June, 2017:

• Empowering Teams : Teams have changed how business is conducted in the workplace – Teams are constructed entities designed to achieve some desired outcome. A team that is empowered is nurtured by a supporting culture in which the organization’s vision, mission and corporate values are substantive and sustainable. An empowered team, therefore, has the necessary information, skills and authority to make decisions that ratchet up performance and drive results. Additionally, how well a team functions depends largely on how well it is structured, the interpersonal relationships and the quality of team leadership. There are five elements required for high performance.
  • Clear strategy
  • Well-understood operational goals
  • Clear and agreed upon roles and responsibilities
  • Transparent and honest business relationships
  • Protocols of decision-making are established

Creating truly empowered teams is a process that cannot be done quickly.. If your organization is not on this path, your competition is set to outpace your efforts.

• Move Forward – It’s up to you so choose now to make progress by moving forward in order to allow positive momentum to take hold. There’s absolute certainty that it’s within your grasp to feel the wonderment of being the creative person you can be. I believe it was the late Art Linkletter, author and television personality, who said “the rest of your life could be the best of your life.” All you have to do is make the effort to move forward to make it happen.
• This Day – Even by itself, this day is filled with huge value. But…in addition, this day also gives you the opportunity to prepare for the days, weeks, months and years which follow…Therefore, living this day with purpose, gratitude and integrity will provide you with a double reward. In addition to making this day the most fulfilling it can be in this very moment in time, you are also preparing yourself for all the time that follows.

I look forward to your active participation in enriching the blog carnival as we pursue our journey in exploring the happenings across quality management blogs…………

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.