Introduction
Total Quality Management (TQM) is the comprehensive approach that management uses to improve the quality of goods and services by focusing on continuous feedback from their customers (Sallis, 2014).
Overview of company
The present report is based on the Sultan Center (TSC), situated in Kuwait. Jamil Sultan is the key person and the founder who established TSC in the year 1976. It is a holding company that trades in the retail sector. It deals in a diversified range of products and services. Groceries, catering, consumer goods, security, telecommunication, and investments are different varieties of products. TSC is the first self-service store in Kuwait, which allowed the organization to expand its stores and product varieties (The Sultan Center, 2015).
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TSC aims at a 'one-stop shop' for their buyers and customers. It is a giant retail company that consists of wholesale centers, discount stores, mega markets, service stores, express stores, and convenience stores. In all these stores, TSC intends to serve their customers with full efficiency. The Sultan Center recorded their growth of average rate of revenue by 4%, whereas an exceptional growth rate of 10% in retail operations at stores in Oman, Bahrain, and Jordan has been recorded. TSC has also shown an increment of 7% in telecommunications and services divisions. TSC at present has 65 stores, 22 restaurants, and 7 industries in 5 different countries. The company employs approximately 10 thousand people and serves around 5 million consumers through its products and services. TSC is spreading its hands all around and planning to open 13 more shopping centers in Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, and Bahrain in the coming year. Telecommunications and services divisions help TSC in strengthening their shareholding in the market. At the end of 2014, the company's net profit was recorded at 10, 90,983 KD (Kuwait Dinar), whereas in 2013 it was only 1, 41,701 KD (Sultan Center Food Products Company, K.S.C. (Public), 2014).
TSC provides quality services in each sector of their dealings. Furthermore, the company organizes training sessions for their employees and staff to ensure quality services (Conti, 2012). The organization takes feedback from its customers for improvement purposes. Security & Technical Service Group is a subset of TSC which provides efficient quality of services and products to their employees as well as to the buyers. It renders quality 24/7 over its products, which include security personnel, valet parking, reliable cleaning, and an efficient security system. The company uses updated technology for diversified sectors.
Cost of Quality
TSC's continuous success is affected by its commitment to serving goods and services according to the expectations of customers and also delivering the best products. The company provides secure services for its employees and customers. In addition, for providing advanced services, the company makes designs, installs them, supplies those designs, and maintains its quality services over products. The company incurs costs to manage all the training sessions for employees (Sadikoglu and Zehir, 2010). In the initial period, the incurred cost has affected the profitability of the company. However, the same cost incurred for maintaining and improving quality will increase profitability in the future. These initiatives will attract more customers, which will increase their sales turnover and overall profit ratio. For example, a company creates surveys and collects feedback about its products from customers. The company will have to bear a large amount of cost.
TQM and its tools
TQM is a management technique that makes the company focus on improving the quality of the product served to the customer. Some of the primary elements of TQM are:
Customer focused
TSC creates an image in the minds of the customers by providing them with the best quality products and services. customer only determines the worth of the quality programs organized by the company. The organization's initiative for quality improvement techniques does affect consumer behavior. (Vanichchinchai and Igel, 2011).
Total Employees Involvement
TSC provides a proper environment to their employees at the workplace. It will lead Employees to work efficiently to meet the desired goal of serving quality products to the customers. A high-performance system will improve efforts for regular business operations (Gutiérrez, Torres, and Molina, 2010).
Process-centered
This element of TQM is the fundamental part that involves process working. Quality can be improved over each step of the process. TSC involves a process of transferring inputs into outputs and finally delivering them to the final buyer. The last step includes monitoring or feedback which can help in initiating the quality by improving the loopholes. There are several tools which are used in total quality management. Some of these are discussed here:
Cause and effect diagram
This tool will help TSC to identify its problem-causing areas. It will help in determining ideas and will help them in solving problems. TSC can meet success by evolving the areas where the company is lacking.
Check sheet
It is a structured form of a sheet that can be used by TSC for collecting and analyzing data. This generated information can assist the company to improve its strategies and will help to manage quality aspects.
Control chart
It is a sort of graph that is used to study the effects of changes caused over time (Jun and Cai, 2010). TSC can use a control chart to evaluate the effect of quality changes caused by customers for a particular period.
Histogram
The graph is used to show the frequency distribution or to show the values for different sets of data (Sallis, 2014). TSC can make use of it by plotting the feedback over graphs whithate received by the customers over the quality served.
Scatter Diagram
This diagram shows the relationship between two or more items in pairs of quantified data. TSC can use this tool to see the relationship between the quality served and the profitability of the company.
Stratification
It is also known as the flow chart or run chart. It gives the direction of flow with the help of arrows and lines (Conti, 2012). TSC can use stratification to make the process and can also use the same to make their employees understand the goal.
Conclusion
The aforementioned report gives a brief overview of The Sultan Center, Kuwait. It contains information about the use of Total Quality Management in the company and also emphasizes the quality services. In addition, the report concludes the important element used in Total Quality Management.
References
- Conti, T., 2012. Building total quality: a guide for management. Springer Science & Business Media.
- Gutiérrez, L.J.G., Torres, I.T. and Molina, V.B., 20European quality management initiatives rope: An empirical analysis to their structural elements. Total Quality Management. 21(6). pp.577-601.
- Jun, M. and Cai, S., 2010. Examining the relationships between internal service quality, its dimensions, and internal customer satisfaction. Total Quality Management. 21(2). pp.205-223.
- Sadikoglu, E., and Zehir, C., 2010. Investigating the effects of innovation and employee performance on the relationship between total quality management practices and firm performance: An empirical study of Turkish firms. International Journal of Production Economics. 127(1). pp. 13-26.
- Sallis, E., 2014. Total quality management in education. Routledge.
- Sharma, U., Lawrence, S., and Lowe, A., 2010. Institutional contradiction and management control innovation: A field study of total quality management practices in a privatized telecommunication company. Management Accounting Research. 21(4). pp. 251-264.