Managing Business Improvement & Quality: : Implementing Key Tools & Techniques

Citation

Miroglio, F. (1998), "Managing Business Improvement & Quality: : Implementing Key Tools & Techniques", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 170-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/bpmj.1998.4.2.170.2

Nowadays, students or managers who desire to read management literature can not avoid books talking about improvement, reengineering, processes, customer satisfaction. Among the management problems which are filling hundreds of pages with contributes, case studies and debates, the search for more or less radical improvements in the ways of organising activities and of managing the processes of the business is playing a prominent role.

Statements like “focus your management on processes rather than functions”, “encourage quality through all the organisation”, “search for dramatic improvement in cost, time and quality”, are only some of those most commonly used in order to identify a management activity oriented to excellence.

In recent years, many authors have used different terms relating to the management and improvement of processes: “business process improvement”, “business process redesign”, “core process redesign”, “business restructuring”, “business process reengineering”.

Although there is a general agreement that the final purpose is the redesign of business processes in order to produce radical improvement, some confusion remains about how reengineering could be integrated within the strategic and operational management processes of organisations.

A recent survey suggests that when terminology is removed, most organisations are attempting to move towards proactive and customer‐focused performance improvement, and that BPR can be integrated within a total quality philosophy, or ‐ in non‐TQ organisations ‐ can be an integral part of their management practices. For a deeper analysis see Zairi and Sinclair (1995).

An area of confusion certainly relates to the use of tools and techniques (T&T). Many authors consider T&T to be critical factors of success in order to solve problems and increase the velocity of improvement, when they are integrated into the routine operation of businesses. However there are many differences in the specific T&T suggested in reengineering efforts and generally in the management of a total quality organisation: different authors indicate different T&T, or different mixtures of them, depending on the primary focus of their researches.

When T&T are effectively used, they facilitate the development of a mindset of continuous improvement, allowing the documentation, the monitoring and the evaluation of processes; highlighting problem areas; providing a framework for problem solving, and so on.

Using T&T effectively and efficiently, some critical factors of success must be considered.

Different T&T play different roles. T&T can:

1. 1.

   support, collect, summarise and present data;

2. 2.

   support problem discovering and solving activities;

3. 3.

   assist in removing the root causes of a problem;

4. 4.

   help in structuring ideas;

5. 5.

   support implementation actions;

6. 6.

   allow monitoring and maintaining of control.

T&T must be an integral part of the business operation. The effective use of T&T requires the set‐up of an organisation environment conducive to improvement, which includes a clear statement of aims and objectives, careful planned education and training activities, the management of change, and so on.

Each tool or technique requires overcoming specific implementation problems. Problems are both general and specific, and need to be known in advance.

Based on the results of an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council funded project, “Managing business improvement and quality” a wide and in‐depth analysis of tools and techniques most commonly used in introducing, supporting and developing a process of continuous improvement is provided.

Drawing from a wide range of practical implementations, the authors explore the earlier mentioned critical factors of success for the effective use of T&T. Describing specific T&T, they focus not only on their definition and construction, but also on the difficulties in their use and application and on the ways to overcome these difficulties.

Moreover, readers can find an assessment methodology in order to audit the strengths and areas of improvement relating to the use and application of T&T.

In conclusion T&T play a critical role in performance improvement; this book helps managers to fully understand not only the potential benefits connected to each T&T, but also makes them conscious of the problems that their implementation can raise. What is important is that the authors, moving from their professional experience, propose solutions to many of these problems.