Nietzsche se puede leer como un programa para la sociedad burguesa del siglo X X , primero del

During PA's diagnosis of Ilford, they highlighted the lack of training apparent in the company and their recommendation was that this deficiency be corrected as soon as possible. There was a very real concern that the lack of training expertise and administrative capability in Ilford would seriously impair the development of a quality improvement programme. No members of the Essex based training department moved to Mobberley. The already existing training

department at Mobberley employed one training officer whose experience was primarily in shop floor training and safety. He also was qualified to run the TWI instructor courses that were introduced into the UK by the Ministry of Labour following the second world war. PA

Consultants insisted that if QIP was about changing managerial attitudes to work and their role behaviour, this would demand a great deal of managerial training and a more professional approach to the skill and knowledge development of all Ilford employees. The training programme that PA were introducing to support the team based problem solving activity, organisational review of managerial and supervisory roles was itself a priority problem in an

organisation with no capability in this crucial area. To overcome the problem, at least in the short term, Stuart Quirk, a chemist working in a production area, was appointed as a training officer with a responsibility for co-ordinating the QIP training programme and also to deliver the training modules which were to be designed by PA. This was a daunting task, but one that was met by enthusiasm and ingenuity by Stuart who sought the help and support of the parent company headquarters staff. I was asked to recommend training for Stuart that would equip him for his role. Stuart came over to Macclesfield for a meeting with Derek Stables and myself early in 1985. He came to ask for more than just advice on which course he should take although that was the overt purpose of his visit. He wanted practical help to run the one day modules, the schedule that PA were implementing would require courses to be run every day, every week for some months in order to put every manager and supervisor through the training. Our own schedule at Macclesfield and on reflection our lack of interest in what seemed like a routine training grind, prohibited such direct help. Stuart left our offices with our sympathy and some training officer course brochures.

Stuart told me some years later after I had moved to Ilford that he was pretty angry at our refusal to help him, but it seemed to increase his resolve to do the job despite what appeared to him as a typical HQ response to avoid doing anything useful. He faced a gruelling six months of almost non-stop training, the schedule was demanding because of PA's timescales and their own preparedness or lack of it, to run the modules. PA were designing the modules only one week before they were first presented by Stuart to managers and supervisors. On some occasions Stuart told me that he would receive the script and slides on Friday to present on Monday! The effectiveness of the first few runs of the nine module programme was to be doubted, but as Stuart became more familiar with the material and the support he had from managers willing to provide examples for use in training, the more his own confidence and ability increased. This was reflected in the end of course 'happy sheets' which provided Stuart with feedback from his course delegates. Single handed, he had trained some 450 managers, supervisors and staff specialists in the nine PA modules which amounted to about 198 training days.

The content of the training modules was aimed to raise skill levels and enable participants to change their behaviour within their existing jobs. The module titles were:

Module One. QIP - The Need and the Aim. Module Two. Problem Solving I

Module Three. Problem Solving II Module Four. Teamwork

Module Six. Overcoming Resistance to Change Module Seven. Setting Quality Standards Module Eight. Barriers to improvement

At the end of each module, participants would be required to complete a personal action plan in which they outline what actions they will take as a result of the training. There would normally be about a month between the modules for the participants to implement their actions. Their managers would be involved in this process as a way of ensuring some commitment to it. However, Stuart's pessimism that many of these action plans would not be actioned, proved correct. Most of the improvements in the production area were due to the focus of attention on solving problems that was provided by the 'overlay' structure of local and multi-functional problem solving teams. The estimated savings of one million pounds during the first year of QIP proved to the DMC that this approach worked. Training provided, in the view of some participants, confidence in their problem solving activity and an impression that the Company was serious about QIP.

The training had other consequences besides the learning of new skills. The composition of the courses was cross-functional, this meant that staff from different departments in Ilford were sharing a common event. PA's criticism of the insular nature of the main functions was partly the reason for this joint training. This was the start of breaking down the functional barriers which seemed to PA unhelpful and one cause of the high cost of quality failures, through lack of awareness of anything outside of a department’s own patch.

This training was primarily skill oriented and provided the sort of managerial\supervisory tools and techniques that could be used by any organisation, irrespective of whether they were intending to become a 'quality' company. For example, problem solving and teamwork were the staple diet of most management training courses and although oriented to solving quality problems, the training did little to raise participants understanding of a quality management approach to their work. In Ilford the consultants were 'managing' the QIP.

PA's contract with Ilford was coming to an end during the Spring of 1986 when the module training was due to be completed. The consultants knowledge of quality management had raised the dependency of Ilford DMC on their advice and direction, now with the termination of this relationship in sight, there was a growing anxiety that they would soon be on their own and be expected to continue leading the 'programme'. Bill Hunt said that PA had started 'hares running' and 'it was up to us to keep them going'. There had been much valuable work done that should not be lost. The main problem was that in general, the management of Ilford still did not understand quality management, they had learned new skills but not the 'philosophy' that enabled them to see the bigger picture. The importance of the 'total' view of quality had been

emphasised earlier by Crosby Associates when they presented their tender for working with Ilford. Bill was aware that for progress to be made, this philosophy would have to be understood and applied to continue developing and progressing the QIP.

Another recommendation from PA was the need for Ilford to recruit a training manager to continue the training impetus, develop training to support the QIP and the continue with the development of Ilford employees in the knowledge and skills of improving quality.

At this time I was not involved with Ilford in my HQ role at Macclesfield, but the events of 1985 in Ilford set the scene that was to significantly shape my involvement with Ilford over the coming years.

During January 1986, John Brewer, the Company Secretary and Director of Human Resources at Ilford, approached my boss Derek Stables, for help in recruiting a training manager and for some immediate on line support from his department until a suitable person could be found. Politically this was a good thing, because Derek always had to fight the battle of credibility for our HQ unit. As in other companies I know, the headquarters departments are viewed with disdain and cynicism by the 'real' operating divisions.

John Brewer suggested that rather that waste time waiting for a person to be recruited, some training needs analysis could be done at Ilford that should enable a new person to have something concrete to start with. The suggestion was that I should do this work. Derek asked me if I would like to spend some six weeks working in Ilford to develop a training needs

analysis for the site, particularly its management and supervision. This project eventually led to my transfer to Ilford as the Human Resources Development Manager in early 1996.

Summary

In this Chapter, I have described the historical and business situation that has led Ilford to introduce a quality improvement programme. Past periods of success for the company were short lived and its problems were thought to be a cost base that was too high. In addition, the company needed significant resources to maintain a research programme from which it hoped to develop competitive products.

The various elements of Ilford's competitive context, recent history of rationalisation and the major upheaval of the move to Mobberley, set the scene for a series of changes that were to take place over several years. The situation was also politically influenced by the "last chance" nature of the imperative for improvement demanded by its owners. The recently appointed managing director had to demonstrate the wisdom of his appointment, and the move had

"bought time" for him to consider how he was going to set about his task of improving Ilford's competitiveness.

The introduction of the QIP and its success producing cost savings had set the stage for the emergence of Total Quality Management. There was also reversal of cause and effect in Ilford's problem definition. Traditionally cost base issues were seen to result in a poor competitive stance and the focus of attention was on solving the problem of high costs. Now, through their gradual understanding and experience of quality management it was emerging in the minds of some Ilford top managers that their focus of attention should shift to the issues of competitiveness as a consequence of poor quality, rather than as a direct attribute of costs. Before continuing with my account of the management of quality in Ilford and the development of TQM, I will need to provide a review of relevant literature on quality management. This will provide the necessary grounding in the topic for me to pick up the story again, in chapter 5, with a description of how total quality developed in Ilford, following the withdrawal of PA consultants.

CHAPTER 4

QUALITY MANAGEMENT - A REVIEW INTRODUCTION

Given the massive amount of publicity and interest in TQM during the nineteen-eighties, its meaning and interpretation was not received in the same way by all managers. As Smith et al (1992) have said when commenting on managers’ perceptions of TQM, "what you see, is what you get". Consequently, different perceptions of what TQM is and what it means, has in turn led to varying forms of implementation and variance in its reported success.

In this chapter I will discuss the key contributors to the development of modern quality management. The purpose of this review is not to critique the different quality approaches prescribed by the quality 'gurus' for management, but to show how collectively they have provided the necessary foundation of quality principles from which TQM has emerged during the early part of the last decade.

THE MANAGERIAL PERSPECTIVE OF QUALITY

Within the managerial perspective the development of quality as a discipline in

organisations, which has given birth to Total Quality Management, can be traced over almost a century of industrialised development. Quality has endured throughout this period with apparent cycles of enthusiasm and indifference. For one company, in which I worked, quality was primarily a technical function, populated by engineers and statisticians whose

prominence and importance varied in a sort of cyclical fashion, seemingly in direct

proportion the problems of reliability experienced by customers in the field. In more recent times the quality has soared to unprecedented heights of popularity and interest amongst top managers.

TQM has been one of the most publicised and popular 'innovations' to have appeared in recent times. Pascale (1992), has tracked the number of times that different 'business fads' have been mentioned in all kinds of publications, (see Appendix 4). According to Pascale, the frequency and rate that a 'fad' is mentioned determines the 'influence index', from which its popularity amongst managers is determined and the likelihood that they will want to try to adopt it in their own organisations.

The pace at which TQM has grown in popularity has had two effects, firstly its practical application by managers has always been trailed by academics trying to catch up with

adequate theoretical explanations for this phenomena. This has led to the second effect of a variety of interpretations and definitions of TQM with consultants and other opinion formers leading the field according to their own speciality and interests. It will become apparent that there is no agreed upon definition of TQM, although this is not for the want of offerings.