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Implementing a Successful Total Quality Management System

Implementing Total Quality Management is an initiative many organizations wanted to try out. Assuming that you are a leader of this organization, a common question you probably asked would be: “How do I know whether my organization is successful in implementing Total Quality Management?”

There is no doubt that measuring Total Quality Management implementation success rate is of interest to all if not most leaders. Otherwise, how would you as a leader know the effort put into implementing Total Quality Management is really worthwhile, more so when a lot of resources like money, manpower etc are deployed to support the implementation of a Total Quality Management initiative.

One of the ways to evaluate the Total Quality Management success is to adopt a holistic approach of assessing your organization. One of the examples of such a holistic approach is the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award assessment approach. This is a national level award system in the United States to recognize organizations for achieving excellence in their respective business.

The Evolution of ISO 14001

The ISO 14001 Standard has demonstrated an expansion in registrations over the last 8 years, and can now be considered well beyond the critical mass needed to sustain it as the primary Environmental Management System model for the next decade. When working with this Standard as we have, one of the great features one recognizes is its flexibility to fit a myriad of organizations. The same system model that is used by a global manufacturer of electronics components can also generate success for a local municipality or the U.S. Army. The proposed changes to the Standard due to be enforced won’t be a drastic departure from the elements we know today, but are simply the next small step in the evolution of a global standard. There are many different forces coming into play that drive this evolution, so stay tuned, maybe the next 8 years will be very interesting.

What are your Obligations towards Temporary Holiday Staff?

Employers have the same duty of care obligations towards temporary holiday staff as their permanent employees – that is they must ensure their health and safety.

Many temporary holiday staff, especially in the retail and hospitality sectors, are young people who are recognized as especially vulnerable to workplace accidents during the festive season. It is the busiest time of year for some employers, who sometimes neglect to properly train recruits about safety procedures, especially if they are only temporary holiday staff.

Inexperience, lack of knowledge and an unwillingness to ask questions or query employer requests also contributes to the injury rate of young and inexperienced workers.

To prevent this, employers should be planning now for the influx of new and young employees to their organizations and the consequent occupational health and safety implications over the holiday period.

Developing an appropriate, targeted induction program which encourages them to ask questions and providing extra supervision for the employees over the Christmas season are both recommended.