CBM 121 –Operation Management & TQM

Prof: Libby Gutierrez

WORKFORCE FOCUS
WORKFORCE refers to everyone who is actively involved in accomplishing the work of an organization. This encompasses paid
employees as well as volunteers and contract employees, and includes team leaders, supervisors, and managers at all levels.
Many companies refer to their employees as “associates” or “partners” to signify the importance that people have in driving
business performance. Workforce satisfaction is strongly related to customer satisfaction and, ultimately, to business
performance.

-- Workforce Focus – The workforce focus investigate the effectiveness of an organization in terms of its use, development, and
management of the workforce in order to fulfill their potential and create a TQM product.

-- Workforce – The total number of people who are employed by a particular company.

WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT (Human Resource Management or HRM) is the function performed in organizations that
facilitates the most effective use of people (employees) to achieve organizational and individual goals. The objectives of an
effective workforce management system are to build a high performance workplace and maintain an environment for quality
excellence to enable employees and the organization to achieve strategic objectives and adapt to change.

Workforce management activities include determining the organization’s workforce needs; assisting in the design of work
system; recruiting, selecting, training and developing, counseling, motivating, and rewarding employees; acting as a liaison with
unions and government organizations; and handling other matters of employee well-being. Human resource professionals need
to foster competence and commitment among employees, develop the capabilities that allow managers to execute on strategy,
help build relationships with customers, and create confidence among investors in the future value of the firm.

-- HRM, Facilitate the use of people (employees) to achieve organizational and individual goals.

-- Workforce Management Activities – Determining the organizations workforce needs, assisting in the design of work systems,
recruiting, selecting, training and developing, counseling, motivating and rewarding employees.

PERFORMANCE simply means the extent to which an individual contributes to achieving the goals and objectives of an
organization. The design, organization, and management of work and the work environment are crucial to high performance.

-- The accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards of accuracy, completeness, cost and speed.

Performance is deemed to be the fulfillment of an obligation. In a manner that releases the performer from all liabilities.

Kay Kendall and Glenn Bodison propose five “Conditions of Collaboration” that characterize a culture of high performance:
respect, aligned values, shared purpose, communication, and trust.

 Respect – means believing in the inherent worth of another person. Respect also is taking into consideration the
views and desires of others. When you respect another person, you consider what is important to him or her when
you are planning and making decisions.

--- A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something selected by their abilities, qualities or achievements.

--- A feeling or show of honor or esteem for someone.

 Values – are the guiding principles and behaviors that embody how an organization and its people are expected to
operate. Values reflect and reinforce an organization’s culture. Aligned values creates a congruency between what
the organization stands for and the personal beliefs of the individual.

--- A person’s or society’s beliefs about good behavior and what things are important an ex of values are the accepted
belief.

--- A person’s principles or standard of behavior.

  Purpose – is the fundamental reason an organization exists. It inspires an organization and guides its setting of values.
Typically, individuals who share a purpose with the organization for which they work are frequently more motivated.

--- The reason why something is done or used, the aim or intention of something.

--- The feeling of being determined to do or achieved something.

--- The aim or goal of a person.

 Communication – is often cited as one of the most important factors related to employee motivation. Communication
that flows freely in all directions promotes collaboration.

--- A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or
behavior.

--- The act of transferring information from one place, person or group to another.

 Trust – that management trusts the workforce and vice-versa – is vital. A survey by Annandale, Virginia-based
Mastery Works Inc. concluded that employees leave their organizations because of trust, observing that “Lack of trust
was an issue with almost every person who had left an organization.”

--- Is confidence in the honesty or integrity of a person or thing

Principles of Workforce Engagement and Motivation:

Joseph Juran credited Japanese managers’ full use of the knowledge and creativity of the entire workforce as one of the
reasons for Japan’s rapid quality achievements. When managers give employees the tools to make decisions and the freedom
and encouragement to make contributions, they virtually guarantee that better quality products and production processes will
result.

WORKFORCE ENGAGEMENT refers to the extent of workforce commitment, both emotional and intellectual, to accomplishing
the work, mission, and vision of the organization. Engagement is manifest in Deming’s concept of “pride and Joy” in work that
was reflected in his 14 points. Engagement means that workers find personal meaning and motivation in their work, have a
strong emotional bond to their organization, are actively involved in and committed to their work, feel that their jobs are
important, know that their opinions and ideas have value, and often go beyond their immediate job responsibilities for the
good of the organization.

--- Is the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs are committed to the organization and put discretionary
effort into their work.

--- Committed to the organization goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success with an enhanced sense
of their own well – being.

Advantages of Employee Engagement:

 Replaces the adversarial mentality with trust and cooperation

 Develops the skills and leadership capability of individuals.

 Increases employee morale and commitment.

 Foster creativity and innovation, the source of competitive advantage.

 Helps people understand quality principles.

 Allows employees to solve problems.

 Improves quality and productivity.

EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT (EI) – refers to any activity by which employees participate in work-related decisions and
improvement activities, with the objectives of tapping the creative energies of all employees and improving their motivation.
An employee suggestion system is a management tool for the submission, evaluation, and implementation of an employee’s
idea to save cost, increase quality, or improve other elements of work such as safety. At TOYOTA, for instance, employees
generate nearly three million ideas each year – an average of 60 per employee – of which 85 percent are implemented by
management. Companies typically reward employees for implemented suggestions.

Simple suggestion systems can have many benefits, thinking about solutions to problems at work makes even routine work
enjoyable; writing down the suggestions improves workers reasoning ability and writing skills. Satisfaction is the by-product of
an implemented idea and a job made easier, safer, or better.

--- When employee participate directly to help an organization fulfill its mission and meet its objectives by applying their ideas,
expertise and efforts towards problem solving and decision making.

--- The process for empowering members of organization to make decisions and to solve problems appropriate to their levels in
the organization.

MOTIVATION – As “the art of creating conditions that allow every one of us, to get his work done at his own peak level of
efficiency.” Motivation is an individual response to a felt need, thus some stimulus, or activating event, must spur the need to
respond to that stimulus, generating the response itself.

--- Is the word derived from the word “MOTIVE” which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals.

---It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals in the work goal context the psychological factors
stimulating the people’s behavior can be desire for money or success.

1.) Extrinsic Motivation – Comes when you feel urge to do something in order to gain a specific reward or clear punishment.

2.) Intrinsic Motivation – Is something that comes from within.

-- Intrinsically motivated individuals tend to engage in activities because of their enjoyment and get some kind of personal
satisfaction from it.

Designing High – Performance Work Systems:

The design of work should provide individuals with both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to achieve quality and operational
performance objectives. Leading companies view the design of work systems in a fashion similar to the design of their key
products and processes.

Work and Job Design

Work Design – Refers to how employees are organized in formal and informal units, such as departments and teams. Job
design refers to responsibilities and tasks assigned to individuals. Both work and job design are vital to organizational
effectiveness and personal job satisfaction. Unfortunately, managers often do not understand workers’ needs. One research
study found that the top five employee needs in the workplace are interesting work, recognition, feeling “in” on things,
security, and pay.

-- Is a core function of Human Resource management and it is related to the specification of contents, methods and relationship
of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the
job holder or the employee.

--- The job design specifies the contents and procedures of performing the task in the organization.
--- Involves integrating job responsibilities or content.

The Five Core Characteristics of Job Design:

1.) Task Significance – The degree to which the job gives the participants the feeling that they have a substantial impact
on the organization or the world, for example, solving a customer’s problem rather than simply filing papers.

--- The term refers to the perception that one’s job or task exerts a positive impact on others.
--- Is the degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives of other people.

--- leads to internal work motivation.

2.) Task Identity – The degree to which the worker can perceive the task as a whole, identifiable piece of work from start
to finish, for example, building an entire component rather than performing a small repetitive job.

--- A job is done from the start point A to finish point B.

--- Degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.

3.) Skill Variety – The degree to which the job requires the worker to use a variety of skills and talents, for example.
Physical skills in machining a part and mental skill in using a computer to tract quality measurements.

--- Essentially refers to the degree to which a particular job requires a variety of different activities so the employee can use
various skills and talent.

4.) Autonomy – The degree to which the task permits freedom, independence, and personal control to be exercised over
the work, for example, being able to stop a production line to solve a problem.

--- In the workplace refers to how much freedom employees have while working.

--- Employees are allowed to set their own schedules and can decide how their work should be done.

5.) Feedback from the job – The degree to which clear, timely information about the effectiveness of performance of the
individual is available, not only from supervisors, but also from measurements that the worker might take directly.

---- Is critical to the success of each employee, team and company, it motivates employees to improve their job performance by
enhancing ability, encouraging effort and acknowledging results.

Approaches to Work Design:

 Job Enlargement – In which worker’s job were expanded to include several tasks rather than one single, low level
task.

--- Increasing the scope of a job through extending the range of its job duties and responsibilities generally within the
same level.
--- Combining various activities at the same level in the organization.

 Job Rotation – Is a technique by which individual workers learn several tasks by rotating from one to another. The
purpose of job rotation is to renew interest or motivation of the individual and to increase his or her complement of
skills.

--- Is a technical used by some employers to rotate their employees assigned jobs throughout their employment.

 Job Enrichment – Entails “vertical Job loading” in which workers are given more authority, responsibility, and
autonomy rather than simply more or different work to do.

--- Is a method of motivating employees where a job is designed to have interesting and challenging tasks which can
require more skills and can increase pay.

Empowerment

-- The process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.

-- Is a set of measures designed to increase the degree of self – determination in people and in communities in order to enable
them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way.
Empowerment simply means giving people authority – to make decisions based on what they feel is right, to have control over
their work, to take risks and learn from mistakes, and to promote change. Empowerment requires employees to step outside
their traditional roles and make decisions previously made by managers.

Empowered employees must have the wisdom to know what to do and when to do it, the motivation to do it, and the right
tools to accomplish the task. These requirements may mean significant changes in work design, especially, the following:

 Employees be provided education, resources, and encouragement

 Policies and procedures be examined for needless restrictions on the ability of employees to serve customers.
 An atmosphere of trust be fostered rather resentment and punishment for failure
 Information be shared freely rather than closely guarded as a source of control and power
 Workers feel their efforts are desired and needed for the success
 Managers be given the required support and training to adopt a “Hands –off” leadership style
 Employees be trained in the amount of latitude they are allowed to take.

Teamwork

A team is a group of people who work together and cooperate to share work and responsibility. Teams, and the need for such
team skills as cooperation, communication, and group decision making, represent a fundamental shift in how work is performed
in the United States and most countries in western world.

---The combined action of a group of people especially when effective and efficient.
--- Is the collaborative effort of a group to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.

Many types of teams exist in different companies and industries:

 Management Teams: Teams consisting mainly of managers from various functions, such as sales and production that
coordinate work among teams.

--- Is the group of individuals that operate at the higher levels of an organization and have day-to-day responsibility
for managing other individuals and maintaining responsibility for key business function.

 Natural Work Teams: Teams organized to perform entire jobs, rather than specialized, assembly line-type work.

--- A group of people who work together everyday on a common purpose, product or function to improve
performance and individual skills through their collective skills and experience.

 Self-Managed Teams: Specially empowered work teams defined as “a highly trained group of employees, from 6 to 18
on average, fully responsible for turning out a well-defined segment of finish work – also known as self-directed work
teams.

--- A self – organized semi autonomous small group of employees whose members determine, plan, and manage their
day to day activities and duties under reduced or no supervision.

 Virtual Teams: Teams in which members communicate by computer, take turns as leaders, and jump in and out as
necessary. These types of teams use a combination of cloud computing, e-mail, video conferencing, and shared
computer screen technologies to get their jobs done.

--- Usually refers to a group of individuals who work together from different geographic location and rely on
communication technology.

 Quality Circles: Teams of workers and supervisors that meet regularly to address work-related problems involving
quality and productivity
 -- - A group of employees that meets regularly to consider ways of resolving problems and improving production in
their organization.

 Problem-Solving Teams: Teams whose members gather to solve a specific problem and then disband.

--- A group of individual assembled to work on a project that involves resolving one or more issues that have already
arisen or to deal effectively with issues as they arise.

 Project Teams: Teams with a specific mission to develop something new or to accomplish a complex task.

-- Are groups of employees who work collectively toe\ward shared goals headed by project manager.
* Training and development
* Process improvement
* Crisis response
* customer support

Workplace Environment

--- Affects how employees feel about their jobs and can influence their work habits.

--- The physical environment is one factor that can affect employee productivity but the way staff members interact and how
they one treated also play a role in the overall work climate.

Because employees are key stakeholders of any organization, their health, safety, and overall well-being are important factors
in the work environment. Health and safety have always been priorities in most companies, but working conditions now extend
beyond basic issues of keeping the work are safe and clean. Other responsibilities include providing reasonable
accommodations to workers with disabilities or ensuring that male and female employees are protected from sexual
harassment from fellow workers and others.

Most companies provide many opportunities that contribute to the quality of working life. They can provide personal and
career counseling, career development, and employable services, recreational or cultural activities, special leave for family
responsibilities or for community services, flexible work hours, outplacement services, and extended health care for retirees.

10 Characteristics of workplace wellness:

1.) Positive values

2.) Relaxed and productive atmosphere
3.) Commitment to excellence
4.) Open and honest communication
5.) Cooperation, respect and understanding
6.) Sense of humor
7.) Compassion, respect and understanding
8.) Flexibility
9.) Positive reinforcement (acknowledgement, appreciation, and gratitude to be motivated)
10.) Emphasis on health, family and environment

Workforce Learning and Development

Training can be one of the largest costs in an organization, not surprisingly, it is one in which many companies are reluctant to
invest. However, research indicates that companies that spend heavily on training their workers outperform companies that
spend considerably less, as measured on the basis of overall stock market returns. Thus a strong workforce development
system is vital to a high performance work system.

Compensation and Recognition

--- Are the keys to keeping your team working like a well-oiled machine without a plan that constantly changes and scales to
met employer needs, you risk losing employees and interested applicants.

The design of interesting work and jobs, empowerment, teamwork, and a great work environment can provide motivation, but
invariably the question “What in it for me” ultimately gets asked. Thus, organizations need to have effective compensation and
recognition approaches.

 Refers to all aspects of pay and reward, including promotions, bonuses, and recognition. either monetary and non
monetary, individual and group. Compensation is always s sticky issue, closely tied to the subject of motivation and
employee satisfaction.

Certain Key Practices lead to Effective Recognition and Rewards:

 Give both individual and team awards

 Tie rewards to measurable performance
 Involve everyone
 Drive behaviors that support organizational values and high performance
 Publicizing extensively
 Making recognition fun

Performance Management

--- Systematic approach to measure the performance of employees, creating a work environment or setting in which people are
enabled to perform to the best of their abilities.

--- The sole purpose of a performance management system is to assess and ensure that the employees is carrying out their
duties which they are employed to do in an effective and satisfactory manner which is conttibuting to the overall business.

Is a process for subjectively evaluating the quality of an employee’s work. Performance appraisal is an exceedingly difficult
activity. Organizations typically use performance appraisal to provide feedback to employees who can then recognize and build
on their strengths and work on their weaknesses, determine training needs, allocate compensation and rewards, identify
individuals to promote, assess the pool of talent across the organization, and identify the best and worst performers.

Measuring Workforce Engagement:

1.) Engaged employees – Who work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive
innovation and move the organization forward.

2.) Not-engaged employees – Who are essentially “check out.” They are sleepwalking through their workdays. They are
putting in time, but not enough energy or passion into their work.

3.) Actively disengaged employees – Who aren’t just unhappy at work; they’re busy acting out their unhappiness. Every
day, these workers undermine what their engaged co-workers accomplish.

Workforce Capability and Capacity”

Workforce capability- refers to an organization’s ability to accomplish its work processes through the knowledge, skills, abilities,
and competencies of its people. Capability may include the ability to build and sustain relationships with customers; to innovate
and transition to new technologies; to develop new products, services, and work processes; and to meet changing business,
market and regulatory demands.

Workforce capacity – refers to an organization’s ability to ensure sufficient staffing levels to accomplish its work processes and
successfully deliver products and services to customers, including the ability to meet seasonal or varying demand levels.