US Army Total Quality Management Essay -- essays research papers fc

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT INTRODUCTION Throughout their military careers military personnel will always face some type of inspection, whether it's internal or external. Today, some units are inspected at least four times a year in supply operations, for example, Command Supply Discipline Program, Command Inspection Program, Command Logistics Review Program, and maybe the Supply Excellence Award. How does the unit prepare for all these inspections? The unit faces many great challenges. There are a lot of steps taken to prepare for inspections. There are many checklists to follow but not enough time and personnel to accomplish these many tasks. There are many subjects areas which, the unit must cover that might be inspected. AR 11-l (Command Logistics Review Program), AR 735-5 (Policies and Procedures for Property Accountability), DA PAM 710-2-l (Using Unit Supply System Manual Procedures), and AR 710-2 (Supply Policy Below the Wholesale Level) are the governing policy documents and should be understood prior to an inspection. There are a lot of non value added procedures and many tasks that overlap, where in some cases the distribution of soldiers is not according to the need of each work place. There are many soldiers assigned to tasks different from what 1 they are supposed to do, which results in no incentive for performing better. In other words, the soldiers consume their energy striving to overcome problems inherent in the supply system instead of trying to maximize the effectiveness of supply operations. A transformation in the supply operations in the units could be achieved by the adoption of a new management philosophy that could help provide greater efficiency. Currently, one of the most advanced philosophies in the managerial field is the Total Quality Management (TQM) concept. But how compatible is the TQM philosophy to the units under the current circumstances? Can the adoption of this concept help the units to overcome their problems? What changes are necessary for a successful implementation? There is a need to examine the applicability of the TQM concept to supply operations. PURPOSE The purpose of this research is to evaluate potential of TQM for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of supply inspections. What is Total Quality Management? Total Quality Management is the process of improving the organization performance at every l... ... commanders and soldiers. For example, if there are areas of the inspection, convert five areas to TQM philosophy. BIBLIOGRAPHY A. BOOKS Aguayo Rafael, Dr. Demins: _ The American who taught the Japanese about Quality First. Carol Publishing Edition, 1990. Brocka, Bruce and M. Suzanne. Qualitv Manauement: Implementinq the Best Ideas of the Masters. Richard D. Irwin, INC., 1992. Carman, Jamess M. "TQM as a Survival Strategy: the Southern Pacific Experience." California Manaqement Review, Spring 1993. pp. 118-132. Dessler, Gary "Managing Quality and Productivity" Human Resource Manauement Prentice-Hall, Inc., 6th edition, pp. 309-323. B. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS PenDell Pittman and Pat O'Farrel, "Transforming Government: Putting People and Quality First", Coverinq m the Bases: _ _ A 14 Step Guide to TQM Implementation (Sixth Annual National Conference on Federal Quality, July 20-23, 1993). United States Office of Personnel Management, Federal Total Qualitv Manaqement Handbook, (Federal Quality Institute, May 1991). Research report, Total Qualitv Manaqement (TQM), An Overview, Anthony Coppola, Air Force Systems Command, September 1991, p. 7.