Purpose of this coursework is to provide a report, which may be used to convince the Governor that Total Quality (TQ) is not a myth and could be effectively used in a private sector managed prison in the North of England. The key assumptions of the Governor’s statement are the following: a) TQ is 24 hours controlled by managers; b) TQ is not required for prisoners (i. e. customers) as they won’t be here; c) TQ is achieved by total control and manager’s orders. Introduction
Total Quality Management is defined as both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent the foundation of a continuously improving organization. TQM is the application of methods to improve all the processes within an organization, meet and exceed customer needs. For the prison it is important to maintain high quality service because this institution operates with other people’s daily life and tax-payers’ money thus bear the responsibility for that.
This report is to prove the effect of TQM on customer’s satisfaction and an overall performance of the prison in comparison with the quality management provided by the Governor. The guiding principles of TQM at the prison should include promoting a quality focussed environment, recognising customer satisfaction as a key indicator of quality services, and changing systems, attitudes and processes in order to bring about step-by-step and continuous improvement in the goods and services provided by an organisation.
At the heart of such an approach is the satisfaction level of the customers with the service, which itself defines the effectiveness of the service according to Goetsch, 167. Key to addressing the above challenges is promoting change in the management systems and organisational behaviour of the agency providing the service. This includes building commitment to change at the prison, promoting participation of all staff members. TQM is more likely to succeed in organisations where the leader’s role is supportive and enabling and not paternalistic and controlling, which exists nowadays in the prison.
For TQM to be successful at the prison, both clients and staff must be active partners in the development of the services. Also employees at all levels must be able to exercise wide discretion in meeting customer needs, both within and outside the organization. TQM at prison should be a client-oriented approach that introduces systematic management changes and continuous improvements to an organisation’s processes, products and services.
As the diagram below indicates, the TQM process begins with the customer and ends with the customer (Goetsch, 179). The TQM process takes specific inputs (the customer’s wants, needs and expectations), transforms (processes) these inputs within the organisation to produce goods or services that, in turn, satisfy the customer (output). Diagram I: The TQM Process While the impact of TQM on improving services in the private sector is no longer disputed, there are still questions about its application in the public sector.
Most private profit-oriented organisations have clear missions, face competition and are accountable to their customers. In contrast, government organisations often have multiple missions and there is a bureaucratic work culture, lack of accountability, and little direct competition. These differences will have implications for how to bring about change in the public sector (Schargel, 69). Conclusion The primary, long-term benefits of TQM in the prison include better services, reduced costs and satisfied customers (even, if they won’t be there).
Progressive improvement in the management systems and the quality of services offered result in increasingly satisfied customers. In addition a number of other benefits are observable including improved skills, morale and confidence among service staff and customers, enhanced relationships between governments and its constituents, increased management accountability and transparency and improved productivity and efficiency of the services.
