Implementing Juran’s Road Map for Quality Leadership: Benchmarks and Results

Citation

Narasimhan, K. (2000), "Implementing Juran’s Road Map for Quality Leadership: Benchmarks and Results", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 46-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2000.4.3.46.1

Dr Al C. Endres has the right credentials and the experience to write this book, being a past president of the Juran Institute. While there, it appears he was responsible for the educational materials on quality systems for service organizations and spearheaded the creation of the Institute’s associated training materials and workshops. The following quote from Dr A. Blanton Godfrey’s (Chairman and CEO, Juran Institute, Inc.) foreword to the book sums up the gist of the book:

By searching for the common themes, similar approaches, and significant results, Al has created a text, a reference book, and a guide for all managers. This resulting work should be studied by all executives, managers, and professionals for the concepts, methods and tools used by some of the most successful companies and organizations in the world … We are able to see the shift from quality improvement projects to total quality planning and deployment. We witness the shift from quality initiatives to business performance and excellence.

This book is a practical guide to quality management based on the Juran Institute’s model for total quality management. The Juran Institute (Wilton, CT, USA) holds an annual IMPRO^© conference for quality practitioners as well as arranging symposiums on managing for quality which are published. Insights from papers, presentations, and topic tracks from these conferences and symposiums have formed the basis for the book.

The book comprises six chapters:

1. 1.

   (1) Accelerating performance through quality.

2. 2.

   (2) A road map for accelerating performance.

3. 3.

   (3) Preparing for the journey.

4. 4.

   (4) Starting the journey.

5. 5.

   (5) Expanding the gains.

6. 6.

   (6) Integration: perpetuating performance improvement.

At the outset, in Chapter 1, Endres has reviewed some of the responses from organizations to the need for accelerating performance improvements for long‐term survival in the age of intensified global competition, rapid changes in technology, increased employee job mobility, and customers who are becoming more sophisticated and demanding. Endres points out that partial responses such as employee empowerment, ISO 9000 and reengineering have only produced limited results. The importance of integrating quality goals throughout an organization’s strategic and operational processes is emphasized. Models exhibiting the systems view of US Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award and the European Quality Award are provided. Juran’s views on quality as “fitness for use” and the two primary dimensions of that fitness – product features and freedom from deficiencies – are briefly dealt with prior to covering in some depth the Juran Institute model for total quality management, which provides the necessary framework for leading and managing quality. A useful table comparing the relationships between the Juran Institute total quality management model’s elements and categories of the US National Quality Award, Japan Deming Prize Checklist and the European Quality Award is provided.

In Chapter 2, the reader is introduced to the macro view of the quality journey comprising five phases:

1. 1.

   (1) decide;

2. 2.

   (2) prepare;

3. 3.

   (3) start;

4. 4.

   (4) expand; and

5. 5.

   (5) integrate.

After providing a brief definition of the purpose and general objectives of these five phases, the “decide” phase is dealt with in detail in this chapter with the aid of examples from both manufacturing and service industries. The other four phases are dealt with in the following four chapters. An exhibit clearly depicts a useful summary view of the drivers and some of the detours (that is concentration on one or more of the partial approaches, which have led to less than optimum benefits). The following four key tasks of senior managers are discussed in some depth:

1. 1.

   (1) assessing the organization’s quality status;

2. 2.

   (2) becoming knowledgeable about the options;

3. 3.

   (3) deciding on the path to follow; and

4. 4.

   (4) committing the time and resource needed.

Chapter 3 contains a discussion of the sequence of essential activities that are necessary for preparing for the quality journey:

1. 1.

   (1) educating top management;

2. 2.

   (2) forming an executive quality council;

3. 3.

   (3) appointing a quality executive and staff;

4. 4.

   (4) training selected managers;

5. 5.

   (5) selecting pilot project and teams;

6. 6.

   (6) developing implementation plans; and

7. 7.

   (7) communicating actions.

Again, the discussions are supported with evidence from various companies’ procedures and the lessons they have learned in embarking on the quality journey. In Chapter 4, the discussion moves on to the sequence of activities recommended for starting the journey. Endres begins by defining the various activities and then deals with both the macro‐level activities and the key issues that need to be addressed. The two macro‐level activities discussed are “conducting pilot projects” and “building the basic infrastructure”. The discussions are supported with flowcharts and examples from companies such as Toyota and Alcoa (Aluminum Company of America).

The theme of Chapter 5 – at 64 pages, the longest chapter – is the sequence of activities used by companies to expand and accelerate the paybacks resulting from the investment in the previous two stages. Endres points out that expansion takes place simultaneously in a number of dimensions: the number of projects, the types of projects, and the types of teams. However, he concentrates on examining how organizations have used four types of teams:

1. 1.

   (1) quality planning teams;

2. 2.

   (2) quality control teams;

3. 3.

   (3) business process teams; and

4. 4.

   (4) self‐directed teams.

The latter two are covered in detail with a number of examples and exhibits. The section on quality planning teams is based on the paper by Mason and Long (1992) dealing with the redesign and development of a new cost accounting process at Stanford University Hospital. The section on quality control teams lacks details, being only two pages long, and has no concrete examples. However, the sections on the use of business process teams (BPT) and self‐directed teams (SDT) are quite comprehensive. The section on BPT is based on financial services example (Aid Association of Lutherans’ Business Process Quality management road map). The Aid Association of Lutherans (based in Wisconsin, USA) is the largest fraternal benefit society, offering financial products and volunteer opportunities for more than 1.6 million Lutherans. The section on SDT provides valuable insights to the lessons learned within a multifunctional department at Caterpillar. The three divisions comprising the department are:

1. 1.

   (1) purchasing;

2. 2.

   (2) administration and travel; and

3. 3.

   (3) traffic and indirect materials.

This section is based on a paper by Droege et al. (1993), while the section on BPT is based on Hooyman and Lane’s (1995) paper.

In the final chapter (Chapter 6), Endres uses material presented by Leo (1994), which details the integration of policy deployment with Xerox’s strategy planning process. He examines the development of a quality system infrastructure to accelerate and perpetuate performance improvements and points out that it requires the following four factors:

1. 1.

   (1) establishing organizational‐level stretch goals for all dimensions of performance;

2. 2.

   (2) identifying and managing the key business processes and goals;

3. 3.

   (3) designing jobs and people’s goals to support key departmental processes; and

4. 4.

   (4) conducting regular reviews and audits at all levels.

One good feature of Endres’ approach is the inclusion of a summary of the roles and responsibilities of senior managers at the end of each chapter and a lead into what is covered in the following chapter. Another good feature is the introduction to each chapter, which briefly mentions what was covered in the previous chapter and what is covered in the present chapter. The text is well written and easy to read, the exhibits used are clear and are also explained in the text. I have found the book not only informative and useful but also enjoyable to read. It should be on the shopping list of every manager whether he/she is embarking on the quality journey or is at an advanced stage of such a journey.