Drivers of KM Systems : Quality Management Processes

The key driver of knowledge management systems in organisation is argued to centre around improving quality management processes linked to an organisation's ability to capture, share and apply new knowledge.

Deming & Juran

Deming's method of ensuring quality of every task was based on a form of learning cycle, the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle that could be applied repetitively and continuously to every task ( Deming 1986). 

His beliefs can be summarised into the following stages that lead from one to another: 

• Improve quality

• Costs decrease because of less rework, fewer mistakes, fewer delays, snags, better use of machine time & materials

• Productivity improves

• Capture the market with better quality and lower price

•  Stay in business

• Provide jobs and more jobs

Dr Joseph Juran

He developed the concept of company - wide quality management (CWQM) as a way of disseminating quality throughout an organisation. 

• Planning - identify and ensure customer needs are easily understood by every person. Ensure that the process will produce something to meet customer needs. Produce a product for the customer.

• Control - Continuously monitor processes for variations. Management take responsibility for the majority (80 percent) of controlled variations in processes.

• Improvement - Take all necessary steps to improve system including attitude and cultural change.

Total Quality Management

TQM built on earlier concepts of quality control and quality assurance.

Quality Control was an extension of inspection to collect data and understand variations using statistical techniques.

Quality Assurance was about developing organisational structures, procedures, processes and resources to ensure that tasks were performed in a consistent manner.

The key elements of TQM are :

• A total process involving all units in the organisation and led from the top.
• Customer is king, with every strategy, action and process directed at satisfaction of customer needs.
• Information is gathered and analysed rationally using ICT
• All organisational processes that add to costs of poor quality are examined.
• Greater involvement of people as an untapped resource.
• The use of multi-discipline and multilevel teams to solve problems related to meeting customer needs.
• The promotion of creative thinking to develop innovative solutions.

Business Process Re - Engineering (BPR)

The pioneers of BPR (Davenport 1993, Hammer and Champy 1993) defined BPR as :

The fundamental re - thinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed.

A typical BPR project has four stages (Huczynski and Buchanan 2001)

• Process mapping - drawing flowcharts of work activity sequences.
• Identifying 'moments of truth' - deciding which steps are critical, add value and introduce errors.
• Generating redesign proposals - streamlining processes and avoiding duplication and overlap
• Implementation - putting the redesign into effect.

Differences between TQM and BPR

Lean Production

The goal of lean production was to achieve increased productivity, reduced lead times and costs, and improved quality across the organisation.

The principles and technique in lean production have focused on manufacturing firms and contain the following features (Sanchez and Perez 2001)

• Elimination of zero - value activities - anything that doesn't add value to the product or service (Womack and Jones 1996)

• Search for continuous improvement in products and processes - involve production teams and management to develop creative solutions to the identification and adjustment of defective parts.

• Multi-functional teams - to facilitate task rotation and flexibility to accommodate changes in production levels. Increased training effort on quality control and remuneration to compensate for new flexibility in workforce.

• Just in Time (JIT) production and delivery - integration of automation equipment with production system to enable delivery of any part in the necessary quantity at the right time. This contributes to the reduction of inventories and lead times.

• Integration of suppliers - with key departments to enhance buyer - supplier relationships such as R&D for new component prototypes.

• Flexible information systems - to provide timely and useful strategic and operational information to all levels. Strategic information may contain organisation's production plans and sales forecasts whereas operational information may contain the factory's current productivity or quality performance.