MBA7061: Operations Management

Introduction

Operations management is extremely crucial to any organization (Anderson et al. 2013). In production of goods and services, overseeing, designing and controlling the process of production and redesigning, business operations management plays a pivotal role. Especially in services sector, important factors within operations management are adequately trained workers, location to be well equipped as per service requirement and should be safe for customer/public, service to be regularly revised as per customer input and competitive forces.

Operations management benefits service sector companies, as effective operation management leads to customer satisfaction, and satisfied customer is beneficial for the company. One such organization successfully using operations management to its benefit is Domino’s.

Headquartered in Michigan, United States and established in 1960, Domino’s has an earned a revenue of US $2.47 billion in 2016. Under current CEO J. Patrick Doyle, company mainly sells pizza, pasta, submarine sandwiches, chicken wings, deserts etc.

Q1. Discuss the concepts of operations input resources, transformation processes and outputs. Use the company business process to illustrate your explanation.

1.1 Transformation Model

Operations produce goods and services by the process of transformation(Brown et al. 2013). Operations acts as processes taking in grouped input resources and then using them to transform something or else transformed themselves to output of products and services. The transformation process is very structured and streamlines which begins from order placement and ends at delivery to the end customer. Operations is the process of changing the state of a thing to produce output which is used by the customers. Transformation model is used to explain the nature of operations (Pycraft 2002), and has three stages of production of goods and services named as input, process and output.

The three stages of the transformation model for domino’s are as follows

1.1.1 Input

The operation input can be easily classified as transformed resources and transforming resources. The transformed resources are the raw materials, information and customers etc. the transforming resources are the trained staff, machinery etc. The transformed resources include the resources in raw state which are further processed as value added products and this is hence done with the help of transforming resources(Production et al. 1990).

Applying to domino’s, the input stage includes transformed resource and transforming resources. Transformed resources include ingredients such as refined flour, vegetables, meat, spices herbs, cheese etc., secret cooking recipe, and orders placed by customers. Dominos operations ensures that transformed resources add value to the entire transformation process. Ingredients of highest quality are sourced, secret recipe creates uniform tastes of its products worldwide and same dough, sauce etc. is used, customer order can be customised as per customer taste thus offering customization. Transforming resources include physical stores, employees, machinery. Dominos uses specialised ovens creating quality pizzas. Staff training is regularly conducted and good staff is rewarded. Stores have the same layout.

1.1.2 Process

Process is the most vital stage of transformation model, involving conversion of raw resources of low value into value added processed product or service(Shanker 2002). This transformation is done through a process which combines transforming and transformed resources, finally producing a good or a service to be accessed by the customer. Thus, Dominos has its dedicated process converting raw ingredients into consumable value added food products within 15 minutes. Thus, it utilises transformed and transforming resources to convert it into output.

1.1.3 Output

Output is the final stage of the transformation model where the product or service is ready to be used or availed by the customer. In this stage, a value is added to the product or service(Mahadevan 2009). In case of domino’s, the output is its product which the customer has ordered for. Domino’s receives monetary returns for the product it delivers to the customer, which helps the organization earn profit. Domino’s being a global brand has to take care of the quality and taste of the product and service they deliver to the customer. Domino’s provides free and on-time delivery to its customers worldwide.

Transformation model used by Dominos is very well defined and successful for the organization, making it earn huge profits.

Q2. Consider the importance of the four Vs, volume, variety, variation in demand and visibility. How do they affect organization’s operation?

2.0 Importance of four V’s

There are four types of V’s namely volume, variety, variation in demand and visibility. The four V’s have a great importance in an organization.

2.1 Volume

It is the quantity in which the product is made. Different companies have different volumes of output(Lewis and Slack 2003). For instance, high volume companies will have different implications than that of low volume companies. Domino’s being a medium high-volume company has relatively low unit cost of its products. The repeatability of making the product is high which makes the organization specialized in the product. High volume production is capital intensive in nature. Whereas any restaurant being a low volume producer will have high unit cost. Domino’s being relatively cheaper and a specialized one gains an advantage over the other restaurant.

2.2 Variety

Variety can be defined as the options to choose from. Higher the variety, customers have options to choose from, which gives them a joy of having different items(Wild 2003). In case of domino’s the customers have their own choice of selecting their toppings or can add more ingredients that makes it flexible. Domino’s moreover makes new operational strategies based on consumer feedback. Therefore, domino’s has medium high variety to choose from. Whereas small scale eating joints have low variety of items in their menu which gives them a disadvantage as compared to Domino’s.

Typology of Operations and Process (4 V’s) for Domino’s

2.3 Variation in Demand

Inconsistency in demand is also known as variation in demand. When variation in demand is low, there is stability in the business and when there is high variation then the volume of output fluctuates creating instability(Bennett et al. 1988). Domino’s, having stable and predictable demand has minimum changing capacity of output. Domino’s has high utilization of resources which keeps cost per unit lower. Whereas, a hotel with a high variation in demand in accordance to season will be instable as it would require to hire more staff when the hotel is full to its capacity. The hotel should flexible in accordance to variation in demand. Changing capacity of output will result to high unit cost. So, domino’s has an edge over hotels and restaurant having high variation in demand.

2.4 Visibility

Visibility is the exposure of the operation to the customer. Customer can perceive satisfaction from high visibility of operation(Brown et al. 2013). When visibility of operation is high, customer has short waiting tolerance and when visibility is low there is a time lag between production and consumption of product. Applying to domino’s, the visibility is medium low when customer enjoys his food at domino’s. Quite contrary to this visibility is low when the food is delivered at home. Domino’s having relatively low visibility has high staff utilization and centralization.

These four aspects should be handled properly to achieve process excellence. It is well known that four Vs when aligned and tuned properly ensures value creation for the organization(Jones and Robinson 2012). Domino’s has been able to manage the four V’s efficiently and therefore gaining a good brand value and profit for itself.

Q3. Explain how the understanding of four Vs will lead to the five operations objectives, quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost?

3.0 Five Operation Objectives

The performance objectives to be fulfilled in an operation are quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost. All five-performance objective, when achieved by a company adds on to its brand value.

3.1 Quality

Quality is probably the most performance important objective to be fulfilled by any company in today’s modern business environment(Greasley 2008). Quality can be defined as giving error free goods and services which satisfies the customer. Good quality product always conforms to its specification(Pycraft 2002). Applying on domino’s, the quality of the product is good enough and satisfies customer. The quality of domino’s is same throughout the world. The quality of the product may not be excellent as it is a fast food restaurant. Quality is nicely taken care by the trained staff as they apply adequate precaution such as wearing gloves and cap while cooking. The ingredients used by domino’s is fresh and of good quality.

3.2 Speed

Speed is also an important performance objective in today’s fast moving life. Speed as performance objective refers to doing operation fast to reduce the gap between order and the availability of product and service(Schroeder 06). Domino’s also has a good speed of production so the waiting time for customers is low. Domino’s speed affects internally and externally both. Internal effect of speed leads to cost reduction. External effect of the speed gives customer speed advantage.

3.3 Dependability

Dependability is defined as providing customer with its goods and services on time. This makes the organization reliable and trust is build up within the customer. Being on time is simply being dependable(Poonia 2010). Applying on domino’s, time taken to give away the order to customer is very less because of the high speed. In restaurant industry time is considered very important, if you are late in providing customer with food. It creates irritation in the mind of customer. Therefore, domino’s using less time to deliver product to the customer is dependable.

3.4 Flexibility

Flexibility means making changes in the operation according to customer. Flexibility nowadays has become a necessity as most customer want changes or slight modification in what they order(Shim and Siegel 1999). Domino’s offer customer the flexibility of choosing toppings for their pizza. Domino’s is quite flexible in case of its delivery. It gives an option of cash on delivery. Domino’s has always been customer friendly and gives customer options of size to choose from. Flexibility is so high that the customer can even choose their base for pizza.

3.5 Cost

Cost is one of the major operation objective. Cost is the biggest level at which all companies compete. Low price attracts customers globally(Arora 2004). Low price products are only possible if the cost of production is low. All the above factors internally effect in reduction of cost. The production in domino’s is done on a large scale which reduces the cost per unit. Therefore, Domino’s has a low-price menu which attracts the customer.

Q4. Identify and critically evaluate in the light of the literature studied the competitive factors such as order winning, qualifiers and less important factors of the company?

4.1 ORDER WINNERS

Order winners are dimensions of performance that make a distinction between the products and services of any two companies(Peters 2013). Order winner are the benefits like quality, delivery speed, reliability, products, design, flexibility and image that helps customer of a company to choose company’s service and product.These competitive factors act as order qualifier for some firm and order winner for the other firm. This depends on the company’s work profile(Elnadi 2009) . For instance, a buyer of industrial chemical would prefer quality over all the other factors. On applying on dominos, speed and dependability are the order winners. Dominos being a fast food restaurant is low on cost. Cost is also one of the order winner for dominos. Dominos has a good market reputation which helps it to grow as a brand. Dependability, speed, cost and image being the competitive advantages for dominos gives it an edge over its rivals. Low cost with a good image is one of the major attraction for the customers. Whereas in fine dining restaurant, quality is the order winner as cost is relatively high and the customers expects a good quality of food in return.

4.2 ORDER QUALIFIER

Order qualifiers are the competitive benefits that a company must exhibit in order to be a successful competitor in the business field (Bellgran and Säfsten 2010) . For instance, the quality of domino’s pizza is an order qualifier, not an order winner. It may look strange but the main product is only an order qualifier, not an order winner but the reality is that the pizza is only half of the core offering. The pizza delivered by dominos is not only a world class pizza but also good enough that the customers cannot refuse to relish it. Domino’s pizza may be one of a kind in understanding that their pizza that their pizza is only a qualifier, not an order winner. For many companies, it is easy to engage themselves in the product and not balance the product with the service. Dominos is also one of those companies that gives more stress on good service. Flexibility of the product is also an order qualifier as customer have only the choice of toppings, as dominos being a centralized organization does not allow complete customization of their product as per customers want. Whereas in fine dining restaurant, speed and cost are the order qualifiers as to make good quality food the cost will be high. Cooking good quality food is a time taking procedure.

So, when a fine dining restaurant is compared with dominos the order winners and qualifiers are different. The two restaurants serve different purpose of eating, for instance dominos food is a replacement of snacks whereas a fine dining restaurant serves a complete dinner.

Q5. Evaluate the strategies that the company employ to maximise the benefits and minimise the problems associated with them?

5.1 General strategies applied by companies

The strategies are the plan, which are designed by the companies for achieving long term objectives as well as to attain competitive advanced over the competitors. The companies to operate its business in the dynamic business environment implement various strategies for making the business successful and profitable. The companies to increase its sales revenue follow the strategies such as enhancing the productivity of the staff members by organising training programs, finding new customers and improving customer services.

In addition, the company attracts more customers by effectively designing the retail displays, expanding into new market and offering price discount to the customers for making them loyal towards the specific brand. On the other hand, companies by selecting the right location for opening new retail outlet. The central location is selected by the companies for grasping the attention of the customers such as near the shopping mall. At the same time, well maintenance of restaurants such as good ambience helps the companies to satisfy the needs of the customers in an appropriate manner. Additionally, the companies by focusing on the quality of the products are able to sustain in the market for a longer period of time.

5.2 Strategies applied by Domino’s

Domino’s operations policy stresses mainly on providing high quality services to the customers.

Minimize operation cost – To minimize the operationcost by improvement of effectiveness and process at the store.
Production oriented store design – To utilize the production oriented store design in order to smooth the way of efficient production and fast service to the customer.
Efficient order taking, production and delivery – To carry of an effective operational process that consist of order taking, pizza preparation, cooking, boxing and delivering.
Statistic store location to carry off the delivery service – To invest in the strategic location of the store in order to facilitate fast service to the customer and maximize the revenue.
Product and process innovation – To stimulate an innovative culture that increases both quality and effectiveness.
To use domino’s PULSE point of sale system. Use of domino’s PULSE system to improve operative effectiveness, provide corporate management with easy ingression financial and marketing data and to minimize time consumption and expenses.
A comprehensive store operations evaluation program – To utilize an all-inclusive store audit program to ensure that stores are meeting both as the expectations of the customers.
A focussed menu – To maintain a focussed menu that is made to present an eye-catching quality offering to customers while reducing order errors and accelerating order taking and food preparation process.

6.0 Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be summarized that the business process involving activities of input, transforming and output plays an essential role for the companies to provide effective product and services to the customers. The 4 V’s such as volume, variety, variation in demand and visibility affects the managerial operations of Dominos in a significant manner. In addition, the 4 V’s will help the company to achieve the performance objectives, which are associated with cost, speed, quality, dependability and flexibility. The competitive factors such as order winning, order qualifiers etc facilitate the companies to gain competitive edge over the competitors in a particular geographical area. Moreover, the strategies such as selecting right location, well maintenance of retail outlets, high quality of services assists Domino’s to maximize the benefits and minimize the problems associated with them.

TASK-2

TQM: Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)

Table of Contents

Task 1. 3

Introduction. 3

Q1. Discuss the concepts of operations input resources, transformation processes and outputs. Use the company business process to illustrate your explanation. 3

1.1 Transformation Model 3

1.1.1 Input. 4

1.1.2 Process. 5

1.1.3 Output. 5

Q2. Consider the importance of the four Vs, volume, variety, variation in demand and visibility. How do they affect organization’s operation?. 6

2.0 Importance of four V’s. 6

2.1 Volume. 6

2.2 Variety. 7

2.3 Variation in Demand. 8

2.4 Visibility. 9

Q3. Explain how the understanding of four Vs will lead to the five operations objectives, quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost?. 9

3.0 Five Operation Objectives. 9

3.1 Quality. 10

3.2 Speed. 10

3.3 Dependability. 10

3.4 Flexibility. 11

3.5 Cost. 11

Q4. Identify and critically evaluate in the light of the literature studied the competitive factors such as order winning, qualifiers and less important factors of the company?. 12

4.1 ORDER WINNERS. 12

4.2 ORDER QUALIFIER. 12

Q5. Evaluate the strategies that the company employ to maximise the benefits and minimise the problems associated with them?. 13

5.1 General strategies applied by companies. 13

5.2 Strategies applied by Domino’s. 14

6.0 Conclusion. 15

TASK-2. 16

Introduction. 19

Q1. Based on the relevant literature, critically review the critical success factors (CSFs) for TQM implementation and comment on the similarities/differences between the CSFs of TQM and the building blocks of the BE process of the company chosen. 19

CSFs for TQM Implementation. 19

Q2. Identify a company which has achieved the SQC or SQA level in either a manufacturing or service industry. Critically asses the strategies and the tools and techniques that they use to achieve the SQC or SQA level. Comment on the effectiveness of applying the CSFs of TQM to achieve SQC or SQA. The company information could be obtained from company management briefing, interviews and/or company visit. 25

Tools and techniques used for achieving the SQC or SQA level 25

Effectiveness of applying the CSFs of TQM to achieve SQC or SQA.. 31

References. 33

Introduction

It is important for the firms to maintain the quality of their products and services to achieve competitive advantage in the market. For this, they need to comply with total quality management that ensures the quality of their operations, processes, and products. TQM is the approach that shows the continuous improvement of the management and employees to meet the customer needs and organizational objectives (Zakuan, et al., 2012). The quality assurance enables the firms to develop trust among the stakeholders mainly with customers that lead to the accomplishment of the business objectives and high performance.

Concerning, this report provides the detailed account on the relevant literature reflecting the critical success factors (CSFs) for TQM execution. It also discusses the similarities and differences between the CSFs of TQM and the building blocks of the Business Excellence process of the chosen company namely Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), who won the “Singapore Quality Class” award for its entire processing & servicing operations. Also, this report also explains the strategies and tools and techniques used by MPA to achieve the SQC or SQA level.

CSFs for TQM Implementation

According to Valmohammadi (2011), CSFs are the areas that ensure the desired results for any process as things must go right for the individual or business. About TQM, there is no universal CSF as different researchers and scholars used different CSFs for execution of TQM approach within the organizations. In the views of different researchers and scholars (Khanna, et al., 2011, Zairi&Alsughayir, 2011 and Rezazadeh, et al., 2012), top management commitment is the most important CSF in implementing the TQM within the business. It is because top management commitment sets a vision for future to enhance the quality and creates an organizational climate that helps to empower the employees to execute the quality management approaches. However, the study conducted by Das, et al., (2011) reveals that training is a significant CSF in the successful TQM implementation. If a company wants to deliver quality products and services, then it needs to provide good training to the employees to enhance their skills and knowledge regarding quality education and techniques. In support of this, Zairi&Alsughayir, (2011) also affirmed that training should be provided continuously to develop the understanding of the workforce about the quality management system and their responsibilities.

On the other hand, from the research of Hietschold, et al., (2014), it can be determined that it is crucial for the firms to focus on customers’ needs and expectations to successfully implement the TQM. The adoption of a customer-focused approach enables the organization to achieve the ultimate goal of TQM i.e. customer satisfaction. Apart from this, the research conducted by Zakuan, et al., (2012) identified that employee involvement is crucial to make the TQM implementation successful. Without employee involvement, it is impossible for the firms to utilize their skills and abilities and achieve their full commitment to the quality improvement.

Regarding this, Desai, et al., (2012) also depicted that it is important for the companies to make the employees feel like a part of the organization and encourage them to participate in quality management. However, it is recognized from the investigation of TQM guiding framework by Brun (2011) that supplier management is an important aspect for implementing TQM successfully. It is essential for the firms to select high-quality suppliers who could meet the demand of required materials and purchased parts to avoid quality problems. A good relationship with the suppliers helps to get the quality supplies leading to effective quality production.

All have emphasized the importance of strategic quality planning for the execution of TQM in their studies (Khanna, et al., 2011 and Valmohammadi, 2011). This planning is crucial to formulate vision and quality policy and use the quality control tools and techniques to ensure the quality of products and services. Meanwhile, Ooi, et al., (2011) placed emphasis on product and service design as an element of successful TQM implementation. It is because effective design in product development helps to enhance the customer satisfaction that is the outcome of TQM. Zakuan, et al., (2012) found out that quality culture is linked to the TQM within the organizations. Many researchers and scholars also believe that organizational culture shows the people’s belief in executing the TQM as it is important for the firms to create a culture that could be effective for the employees to engage in the quality improvement fully. Also, Zairi&Alsughayir, (2011) focused on the significance of result oriented approach to achieve the goals of TQM. It is because the firms need to emphasize the results of adding value to the products and services to enhance the quality perspective.

On the flip side, Irfan &Kee (2013) addressed TQM critical factors as employee empowerment and teamwork. It is because employee empowerment is significant to allow the employees to make decisions related to quality improvement and teamwork helps to coordinate the efforts of different employees across different departments to maintain the quality standards. Supporting to this, Brun (2011) revealed that HR management practices like teamwork, employee empowerment, leadership management, supportive culture, employee motivation and engagement, training and development, etc. are effective for the firms to execute the TQM approaches successfully.

Additionally, Hietschold, et al., (2014) revealed that process management is an important part of the total quality strategy. It is effective for the organization to manage the processes so that they operate as expected to ensure the better quality of products.

Therefore, it can be interpreted from the literature review that different researchers have provided different views on the CSFs required for TQM implementation. Overall, it can be stated that different CSFs like top management commitment, training, employee empowerment, employee engagement, process management, customer focus, supportive culture, strategic quality planning, etc. are required for successful implementation of the TQM approach.

SR. NO.	CSFs
1	Top management commitment
2	Leadership management
3	Training
4	Employee empowerment
5	Employee engagement
6	Process management
7	Customer focus
8	Supplier management
9	Strategic quality planning
10	Supportive organizational culture
11	Product and service design
12	Teamwork
13	Result oriented approach

Similarities and differences between CSFs and Building Blocks

The Business Excellence framework provides a set of different management standards that are used for business excellence. This framework consists of seven building blocks of excellence such as leadership, planning/strategy, information/knowledge, people, processes, customers, and results. Leadership is required for getting strategic direction and influencing the attitude towards excellence. After this, customers are also building the block that reflects the customer centric approach of the company to develop excellence.

(Source: Spring Singapore, 2017)

Strategy or planning is the important building block that is based on stakeholders’ interests and guides the development of people and process efficiency to obtain the set goals of the firm. Information or knowledge plays a crucial part in learning and innovation to make effective decisions and drive improvements.

On the basis of the above discussion on CSFs for TQM and building blocks, it can be stated that there are similarities and differences in both approaches. Building blocks are the base of the concepts of TQM implementation. There is the commonality between CSFs for TQM implementation and building blocks because both are interrelated to each other. For instance, leadership building block is related to CSFs like top management commitment, leadership, and supportive organizational culture.

There is a relationship between CSF namely strategic quality planning and product design and building block named as planning or strategy. Building block i.e. people are associated to different CSFs like employee empowerment and employee engagement and teamwork. About the customer perspective, CSF and building block are similar to each other. Information or knowledge can be gained by conducting training programs. However, building block namely results is related CSF of result oriented approach. The relationship between CSF and building block can be represented as below table:

CSFs	Building Blocks
Top management commitment, Leadership Management, Supportive organizational culture	Leadership
Strategic quality planning, Product and service design	Planning/Strategy
Training	Information/knowledge
Employee empowerment, Employee Engagement, Teamwork	People
Process Management, Supplier Management	Processes
Customer focus	Customers
Result oriented approach	Results

Besides from these similarities, there are some differences between building blocks and CSFs of TQM. The CSFs reflect what the firm must accomplish to achieve the mission, whereas the building blocks are the minimum key factors or sub-goals that are required by the organization to achieve the goals.

Tools and techniques used for achieving the SQC or SQA level

As MPA is leading and largest Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and this company regulate different services by managing the port and marine facilities and activities. In context to it, there is a large customer base of the MPA in the economy especially in Singapore and many other countries. But on the other hand, MPA Singapore uses different tools and techniques which help the company to manage its business activities and develop its customer base in a best efficient manner, i.e., by offering best products and services (Spring Singapore, 2017). While studying, it is observed that government of Singapore is more conscious about the public health and environment because of which different types of rules and regulations are developed to protect customer interest and help in organizations to develop their business to a large extent.

For developing the quality of service, MPA tried to take the support of building blocks like leadership, planning, employee and customer satisfaction and much more. In the organization, Singapore Quality Award plays the vital role as this award defines the actual quality result of the product and services offered to customers. Similarly, MPA Singapore (2016) stated that Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) involves in corporate social responsibility which helps in satisfying the customers in Singapore. The below table shows the BE assessment, administered by SPRING for MPA that is based on a

1,000 point-scale:

Approach	None	Reactive	Defined	Integrated	Refined	Innovative
Deployment	None	Some	Some Key	Most key	All key	All
Results	None	Limited	Fair	Good	Very Good	Excellent
Leadership					95
Customers						100
Strategy					60
Information						65
People						85
Process					80
Result					350
Business Excellence
Band	1	2	3	4	5	6
Score						835/1000

The above score (>800) shows greater heights of excellence and sustained global leadership of MPA. All these areas are evaluated for scaling performance of MPA as follows:

Leadership:

The leadership level of building block help in achieving the corporate social responsibility efficiently like doing charity or donation for handicapped kids school (Kids in play and Lighthouse School). Through, this contribution to the society help in demonstrating that maritime community takes part in reaching out to those people or children who are in need (Rezazadeh, 2017). From the survey, it is determined that MPA’s every year organize a charity program regarding raising the fund or for welfare program for visually handicapped children. This leadership effort of MPA is appreciable as it provides full effort by active volunteerism for community welfare. While doing corporate social responsibility, the firm used to face issues like high cost, lack of employee engagement and time and for which, leadership quality is required in best efficient and effective manner.

Customer Satisfaction:

MPA Company also focuses towards providing customer satisfaction because of which it was able to achieve Singapore Quality Award (SQA). MPA’s focuses on providing the excellent services to its customers by following proper excellence framework. For the organization, customer satisfaction is the major important factor that encourages the organization to perform or serve well to customers as the excellence services are always valued, recognized and rewarded (Nourani, et al., 2017). The tool which is used by MPA for achieving customer satisfaction is the service excellence framework which involves three different types of customer management tenets. The leadership team of MPAs always tries to follow the strategies which are developed in the form of policies, values or principles. On the other side, for providing the quality of service to customers, the organization uses customer driven services which help in judging the quality of service offered. Through customer driven services, it becomes easy for the company to manage the customer relationship as well as help in focusing towards the current and future customer and their requirements (Spring Singapore, 2017). Thus, increase in customer satisfaction level will lead Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to achieve a Singapore Quality Award (SQA) and Singapore Quality Class (SQC) certificates.

Strategy:

Düren (2017) defined that strategy also plays the essential role in engaging the organization towards ensuring involvement of employee towards strategy development as well as help in establishing both long-term and short-term strategies and goals. So, MPA also actively focuses towards building collaborative committee or group that represents the maritime community (MPA, 2016)

In context to it, MPA decided to sign an MOU with IBM Company for protecting the data regarding security and also for port operational use. For achieving an SQA and SQC certificate, MPA developed a corporate and strategic planning cycle which helped the company to achieve organization goals and help in the implementation of strategic planning to different division areas of the company (MPA Singapore, 2016). The tool supported or used by MPA to develop effective strategic planning through organizational and personal learning that will help the company to increase company’s performance as well as help employees to participate and develop their learning.

People:

People are the essential level of building block that assists the company to manage the benchmarking, increase employee performance, employee learning & engagement and satisfaction level. In concern to this level, MPA also develops Human Resource Planning in which they develop the future ready framework so that company gets ensure bout the right organization, right employee, right engagement and so on. The HR team and leadership team of MPA try to manage and work closely with management team to support them in taking right decisions (Gimenez-Espin, et al., 2013). MPA developed new HR Strategy Map in support of future ready journey in respect of improving the employee engagement, labor environment, talent management, managing HR processes, competency development. On the basis of the survey, it is determined that MPA adopts top-down and bottom-up approach with the help of which it becomes easy for the company to identify the need of learning in staff members or employees. Through this, MPA increased its chances or have potential employee engagement which leads to winning a Singapore Quality Award (SQA).

Information and knowledge management:

Information and knowledge management is another building block o business excellence which supports the organization in collecting the information and data related to organization outcomes & directions. This level is effective enough for MPA also as it guides in strategic development that leads to decision making for improvement and learning process (MPA, 2016). In concern to it, MPA developed an effective information architecture that helps in collecting and managing the information. For analyzing the collected data, MPA follows a knowledge management lifecycle in which data is created then it is stored and sorted, and then data is analyzed to check the reliability of the data or information (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). Similarly, MPA also developed strong security infrastructures which host various corporate systems as this security system help employees to easy access to authorized information from different various information system. Thus, this security and information management system are effective of MPA which help company to achieve Singapore Quality Award (SQA).

Processes:

Processes include innovation capabilities and process management and supplier and partner management to achieve high-quality performance. Regarding this, MPA follows a framework focusing on envision reflecting innovation among its people, enable showing availability of tools and resources to nurture innovative ideas and engage reflecting the creation of the environment facilitating creativity and innovation. MPA engages its stakeholders through different vehicles industry initiatives, competition, funds, and schemes offering incentives, joint R&D partnerships and calls for proposals. It has taken several process improvement initiatives like Safe, Efficient & Sustainable Global Hub Port, Strong Maritime Singapore Identity, Quality Maritime Workforce, Maritime Knowledge & Innovation Hub and culture of excellence to enhance the improvement in its processes (MPA, 2016). The MPA Crisis Management Group (CMG) helps to manage the processes in the crisis. MPA also works with the suppliers such as regulated partners and capability development partners to improve capability and efficiency to achieve the quality standards.

Results:

The building block namely results can be measured in different levels including customer results, financial results, people results, and operational results. To achieve better customer results, it may be required for the firms to improve targets and meet trends based on customer satisfaction and retention and product performance and comparison with competitors and benchmarks.

According to the Pro-Enterprise Ranking (PER) Survey by Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) annually, MPA was ranked top among 26 government agencies since 2001due to its service excellence efforts. Concerning to the area of customer results, MPA is developing new e-solutions for the customers to enhance the productivity of the industry and improve the customer satisfaction level. As per the Marine survey, it is determined that more then 90% customers are satisfied with the e-services of MPA. Also, the number of marine incidents has declined steadily over the years showing the improvement in products and services of the company. It has instilled a safety-first culture at sea that is required for enhancing the service quality and customer satisfaction.

On the other hand, financial & market results are related to improvement in trends and targets met for financial performance indicators and marketplace indicators and comparison with the competitors. MPA has achieved financial performance by meeting budget marketmanship targets ranging from 95% to 105%in the last 3 years. Also, rewards like Best Seaport Asia award, Singapore Sustainability Awards 2015, Environmental Achievement Awards (SEAA) 2015, Singapore APEX CSR Awards 2015, etc. show its market performance.

At the same time, people results are oriented towards improvement trends and targets met for employee engagement, employee learning, employee wellbeing and satisfaction and comparison with the competitors and benchmarks(MPA, 2016). Regarding this, the company has improved in staff engagement and staff participation and invested substantially in staff development through training.

Also, operational results are based on improvement trends and targets met for business and processes, suppliers and partners, community and environmental protection, governance system and comparison with competitors and benchmarks. In concern of this, MPA has focused on R&D and safety and security and infrastructure projects and donated to the charity for community development and invested in the Maritime Singapore Green Initiative (MSGI) to protect the environment (MPA, 2016).

Effectiveness of applying the CSFs of TQM to achieve SQC or SQA

The application of CSFs of TQM is significant in achieving the SQC or SQA awards. It is because these awards are based on the quality achievements and CSFs are important to achieve the quality objectives to win these awards. The CSFs of TQM implementation like top management commitment, training, employee empowerment, customer focus, etc. are quite important for the firm to get the business excellence awards. It is also determined that there is matching between the CSFs of TQM implementation and building blocks of business excellence (Nourani, et al., 2017). Therefore, the relationship between both aspects also shows that these factors are effective for the firm to achieve these awards.

The CSFs are used to execute different approaches and strategies related to quality management to ensure the quality of goods and services. For example, MPA focuses on the customer satisfaction approaches to ensure the ultimate goals of the TQM that is also required for achieve the SQA. At the same time, the SQA shows the business excellence in Singapore reinforcing the image of the quality. This award is based on the maintenance of quality aspects in each and every perspective of the business(Gimenez-Espin, et al., 2013). Therefore, it was crucial for MPA to focus on the CSFs of quality implementation that enabled it to achieve the business excellence awards. The consideration of CSFs by the firm brings excellence in the operations and processes of the firm.

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