Total Quality Management

Made Simplified

Dhananjoy Mohanty

Understanding Quality

PROCESS PRODUCTIVITY QUALITY

A process defined as ...

Customer needs

INPUT I Desired results / Planned results INPUT II Resources

Activity / Operation PRODUCTIVITY

OUTPUT

Customer satisfaction

Productivity = Output Input = Effectiveness + Efficiency Effectiveness = Output Input-I Efficiency = Output Input-II QUALITY Quality = Customer satisfaction Customer needs ( Note : The symbol means either ratio or comparison. ) It is evident that scope of Quality is broader than that of Productivity.

QUALITY & PRODUCTIVITY : INTER RELATIONSHIP (A) Quality & Output of process Productivity varies with the value of output. The value of output changes with the QUANTITY & QUALITY of output. Hence productivity depends on the quality of output. In a production process there are eight relationships between change in quality & change in quantity. They are presented in a matrix form in next page.

Quality

Improves Deteriorate s Increases

Constant

P P
(Unpredictabl e)

P
(Unpredictabl e)

P P

Quantity

Decrease s

Constant

P
Constant

Note : P means Productivity, means decreases &

means increases

Inference :

(i) Productivity goes up in case of three situations. (ii) Productivity goes down in case of three situations. (iii) In case of two situations it is not evident whether productivity goes up or not.

(B) Quality & Input of process Productivity = Output value / Input value Production cost = Total Input value / Total quantity of output satisfying desired quality
level

Production Curve Expenditure Zone where Productivity deteriorates d c q

Zone where Productivity improves

Quality level

Production cost changes as quality changes and therefore cost change influences productivity changes. When quality improves with decrease of quantity, productivity does not change if changes in quality and quantity of product are located on the production curve, because the production curve is obtained by changing the quality level under fixed production conditions.

For a desired quality level q the estimated production cost is c. If the actual production cost is d which is more than c for the same desired quality level q, productivity is said to be decreased. If the actual production cost falls below c for the same quality of product, productivity is said to be improved. If the changes are located on the inside of the cost curve, productivity deteriorates. If the changes are located on the outside of the cost curve, productivity improves. Conclusion Thus, it is clearly seen that quality is one of the important factors in the areas of productivity improvement, and quality management is an important tool of productivity management.

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MANTRA & QUALITY Quality is not made in document, or in equipment; it is made in the hearts of

individuals. Tragically though, we tend to look for quality outside. We seek quality in the world of objects. A mind that is only extrovert is caught up in the myth of quality control. Can there be an enlightened approach to quality control? We live in a universe and the universe lives within us. The art of looking within is the mantra of quality control. Mantras help draw quality energy from both external and internal universes. (Going by the definition of quality, an object/work, if satisfies its recipient, can be termed as a quality object/work. And since satisfaction is a status of mind, quality is, logically, an attitude of mind.) The nature of our thoughts is largely compulsive. We are conscious beings but we live like machines. Our likes & dislikes are programmed. But that should not be so. By understanding & chanting mantras, compulsive thoughts are transformed. The mind becomes calm and our perception becomes wise with respect to both external & internal universes. By a nuclear reactor, an atom is split and thereby great energy is released. So too, once our ignorance is destroyed, a great awakening happens within us. Mantra facilitates the awakening of our hidden energy. Just as fire is within the wood and has to eventually be released, so too, powerful energies are hidden within us which have to be realised. A man to possess a quality mind must experience this awakening. This quality mind forms the foundation stone for a quality work. When a powerful mantra like Gayatri Mantra is chanted, the higher centers in us open up and start communicating. The internal universe interacts with the external universe. The world becomes a divine university. Then one starts realising, for example, that, The lotus grows from muddy waters; yet, it gives out fragrance. Despite the many bad things happening around us we should strive to be as fragrant as the lotus. Also that, A hen looks for grains in garbage. Similarly, in the garbage of worldly difficulties, let us look for the good things. Let's not get lost in worrying. A noisy, compulsive mind invalidates the quality of life. After experiencing this awakening one starts to distinguish between what is and what should be. This forms the foundation for quality control. (In fact quality control determines & compares the actual value with the desired value. Actual value and desired value are nothing but what is and what should be respectively.) To sum up: Mind is the work place where quality happens and Mantra is the tool which facilitates quality to happen.

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LEADERSHIP IN TQM

Quality Management @ Home : Leadership

Leaders of families establish unity of purpose (i.e., unifying the purposes of various family members) and direction of the family. Heads of families should create and maintain the internal environment in which family members can become fully involved in achieving the objectives of the family. Childrens purpose is to study with an aim to excel in future. Wifes purpose is to cook & maintain good housekeeping with an aim to maintain good health and homely environment. Husbands purpose is to earn money & provide financial support to all family members with an aim to maintain a good social status & secure a better future. The head of family unify all these purposes and establish goals/objectives of the family for achievement of which all family members contribute. For example: Since the daughter got admitted to Engineering course, the family has to cut expenses in vacation & luxury foods to meet extra expenses of her study. This objective can only be achieved with the contribution of all family members. Secondly, head of the family should provide direction of the family. What is meant by direction? It generally refers to vision/mission/policy, which provides a framework for setting objectives of the family. Examples of direction/policy could include : (i) All family members should be vegetarian, (ii) All family members should have dinner together & discuss all their activities of the day during dinner. Thirdly, head of the family must provide good internal environment in the family to foster better involvement of all family members to achieve the family objective. This internal environment in the family can be established through openness, communication and defining responsibility & authority of each family member. Lack of openness & gap in communication lead to misunderstanding, which destroys the environment in the family. In absence of defined responsibility & authority members of family do not get motivated to contribute to the common cause of the family. (Authority is singular responsibility. Where as responsibility can be shared, authority cannot be shared. Making a decision & approving a proposal are often referred as authority.) Here is an example of how responsibility can bring involvement. The son in a family was assigned responsibility for maintenance of all electric appliances / fittings in the house and to check misuse or wastage of electricity. Once due to misuse of the kitchen grinder it got burnt & the son got it right after struggling for 3 days. Next time when any abnormal sound comes from the grinder, the son shouts from his study table: Mummy, you are over-using the grinder, it will get burnt again. I tell you, I will not get it repaired again if you use it beyond its capacity. And you will be the sufferer! <<<O>>>

Leadership The life blood of Quality People in the organisation can be divided into three groups : (i) Those who wonder what happened; (ii) Those who watch things happen; and (iii) Those who make things happen. Every organisation needs doers and contributors for its survival and growth. Leader ship does not necessarily mean the top management. Leadership also never means authority. Leadership is about representation of a general consensus rather than dictating terms for higher performance. Quality is achieved through people by knowledge and creativity input, skills and discipline. So an organisation has to have a number of leaders at various levels. The leadership has to be reflected through the activities and tasks. The leadership in TQM is therefore to be a distributed process and not just charismatic. Leadership is not only about position but also about function. In fact, we all are leaders either in our work places or at our homes. A CEO is the leader of the organisation. A foreman is a leader of a section. A father/mother is a leader in a home. A cook is a leader in the kitchen. Even a servant can be a leader for a specific function. Here is a story about a servant who could have been a good leader in his function. LEADERSHIP CARRYING THE BAGS OF GOLD A merchant was shifting his merchandise from his town to another town through his servants. The servants were carrying bags of gold, grains, fruits and vegetables. The merchant instructed the head servant who was carrying the bag of gold, to lead the logistics team. The head servant, the team leader, who carried the bag of gold was proud of his load. He was walking ahead of others and thought that he was more valuable to his master than the others. He, by virtue of his position, spoke ill of other servants and advised them to follow every bit of his instructions. He made fun of others limitations. He walked with proud steps and advised others to simply follow his foot steps. He instructed them to walk non-stop and to give more efforts to their jobs. The servants were also advised by the leader not to discuss personal matters during the journey and not to help each other for carrying the loads. On the way some robbers waylaid the servants with their merchandise. The head servant attempted to run away alone but was caught by the robbers. The robbers now looked at the loads which the servants carried. They looked at the bags of grains, fruits and vegetables which the junior servants carried and since they did not have interest in these materials, let the servants go with their merchandise. They then looked at the bag which the head servant carried. The bag was full of precious gold coins. The head servant wanted to be faithful to his master. He wanted to protect the gold from the robbers. He kicked and struggled and raised much dust. Due to his feeling of superiority he did not ask his follower servants to come to his rescue. He wanted to fight alone with the robbers to show off his heroism.

The robbers became angry and beat the head servant severely. They took away the bag of gold. The leader servant suffered from the injuries. He was lying on the road and was firing the junior servants. Other servants carrying the bags of grains, fruits and vegetables were standing aside the head servant and were waiting for the next instruction of their leader. LEADERSHIP SETTING EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS Leadership is about wanting things to happen. The leaders need to identify what the priorities and agenda are for various people as individuals and teams together to complete this act. Leadership is certainly not about getting your own way through other people. Here is a story that depicts a weak leadership in this regard. In a forest all the wolves and jackals decided to live in peace and friendship as one united group. A wolf was elected leader of the united group. The cunning wolf leader arranged a common meeting of all the wolves and jackals. He said, Let us all shed our selfishness. Whatever we hunt we should share it equally among us. We should never break this rule. A jackal stood up and declared, Oh, what an excellent arrangement! I endorse it whole- heartedly. Hallo leader! Bring out the carcass of the goat, which you hunted yesterday; let us share it now. Leaders practise what they preach! So saying, the jackal went into the cave of their leader and brought out the body of the goat. The leader wolf simply blinked without knowing what to do. All other wolves & jackals ate the flesh of the goat. But the leader could not eat as the flesh tasted sour to him. LEADERSHIP WHAT IS IT ! After reading above stories, many questions must be arising in the mind of readers. What are the qualities that a perfect leader should possess? And if one see from organizational point of view, what is the role of leadership in total quality management system? Is it a requirement? What are the benefits of the application of principle of leadership in an organisation? Leadership is the ability to demonstrate its commitment to the Vision and to enable the entire team to visualize the same. Leadership is demonstrated by : Providing fundamental vision Setting high performance standard or commitment Getting on the field from desk and Placing a premium on integrity

Leadership must involve nurturing of an important technical skill that has two parts. skill or Pure technical knowledge or functional skill Skill to improve the efficiency of technology, that is, improvement problem solving.

Leaders should have a future skill for any realistic problem solving in an organisation, which complete depends of skill of communication. Effective leaders must have willingness to be in action. A leader should not be afraid to jump in to action when called for. Leadership is ability to focus on qualitative data rather than quantitative data to achieve breakthrough. Leader without exception believe and practice measurement : We dont know what we dont know We cant act on what we dont know We wont know until we search We wont search for what we dont question We dont question what we dont measure Leadership must encourage Out of Box thinking and create environment for the same. Leadership should be conscious of Time, space and point of view. Leaders must focus on What and Why of any issue. This will lead them in DOING THE RIGHT THINGS rather than DOING THINGS RIGHT. While the former enables an organisation to be effective and the later make an organisation only efficient. Out of 5W and 1H ( WHAT, WHEN, WHY, WHERE, WHO AND HOW), the WHATs and WHYs are essential for improvement and bringing in service leadership. Leadership should never : Allow oneself to be trapped by past experience allow oneself to be overly attached to any authority hold on to what is not needed avoid confrontation lose childhood curiosity in everyday life

REQUIREMENT AND ROLE OF LEADERSHIP IN TQM Leadership requirement is expressed as under by an element of quality management principle popularly stated as Quality begins at Top. Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of organisation. They Should create and maintain the internal environment in which people Can become fully involved in achieving the organisations objectives. The Unity of purpose, direction and Organisation's objective" are established by top management in form of Quality Policy, Vision Statement, Mission Statement, Objective, Goals and Targets etc.

Application of leadership in an organisation leads to the following action :

Being proactive and leading by example. Understanding and responding to changes in the external environment Considering the needs of all stakeholders including customers, owners, people, suppliers, local communities and society at large. Establishing a clear vision of the organisations future. Establishing shared values and ethical role models at all levels of the organisation Building trust and eliminating fear Providing people with the required resources and freedom to act with responsibility and accountability Inspiring, encouraging and recognizing peoples contributions Promoting open and honest communication Educating, training and coaching people Setting challenging goals and targets, and Implementing strategy to achieve these goals and targets

BENEFICIAL APPLICATIONS OF THIS PRINCIPLE INCLUDE : For policy and strategy formulation Establishing and communicating a clear vision of the Organisation's future. For goals and target setting Translating the vision of the organisation into measurable goals and targets. For operational management Empowered and involved people achieve the organisations objectives. For human resource management Having empowered, well informed and stable work force. LAST WORD People listen to our words, but they watch our feet. We have no right to expect that our employees will act in a totally ethical manner if we, as leaders, cheat on working time, pad our expense accounts and misrepresent our own performance. We lead by example whether we want to or not. Proactive leaders foster proactive employees. And we all know that a proactive environment saves money. A reactive environment is absolutely vital, too, but is not as efficient or cost effective. A culture of Proactivity is a culture of winners who will strive toward challenging goals & targets. <<<>>>

Customer Focus

QUALITY MANAGEMENT @ HOME : CUSTOMER FOCUS

INTRODUCTION To lead, run and maintain a family successfully, it is necessary to direct and control it in a systematic and transparent manner. Success of a family can result from implementing and maintaining a management system that is designed to continually improve functions of the family. Managing a family encompasses quality management among other management disciplines like finance, safety, security and human resource. Here are eight quality management principles those have been identified and can be used by the head of a family in order to lead the family towards a better future and consistent peace. In this issue we discuss the first principle Customer Focus. Other principles will be discussed in subsequent issues of this journal under the series Quality Management @ Home. CUSTOMER FOCUS The family members depend on their customers in the family and therefore should understand current and future customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations. Who are the customers of the family members? A family member can be customer to other family members. The following table lists down various customers in a family, their requirements and respective supplier. Sl No. Supplier Customer Customer requirements 1 Husband Wife Affection, Conversation, Honesty, Openness, Financial support, Family commitment, Sexual fulfillment 2 Wife Husband Sexual fulfillment, Recreational companionship, Admiration, Domestic support 3 Father Children Guidance, Security, Financial support, Care 4 Mother Children Nutrition, Care, Guidance, Tuition 5 Children Parents Good results in study, Respect, Good manners, Recognition, Commitment for future These needs are so strong that when they are not met in a family, people are tempted to go outside to satisfy these needs. Simply meeting these needs & expectations can only establish a good relationship as on today. But to create loyalty, the family members must aim at customer delight which is fostered by exceeding customer expectations.

How to exceed customer expectations? Here are a few examples.

Sl Supplier Customer No. 1 2 Husband Wife

Parents

Children

Actions needed to exceed customer expectations (Examples only! You may implement at your own risk!) Wife - A surprise outing to a place the wife admires most - Presenting a diamond ring on the anniversary Husband - Learning & making dish at home which they have enjoyed in a star hotel during a marriage reception - In the night of the marriage anniversary, coming to bed in the attire of Isha or Bipasa whose films the husband enjoys with great spirit! Children - Presenting the latest electronic gadget in their birth day - A surprise increase in pocket money considering the dearness in the market Parents - A big improvement in the performance in the final
exam
-

Standing first in the school / college quiz competition

The family members worked hard to enhance the customer satisfaction. How do they know that their customers are really delighted? The customers in the family must proactively express their feeling of satisfaction/delight. In absence of this, the family members must ask feedback of their customers. Here are a few customer feedbacks in a family. Sl No. 1 2 3 4 Supplier Customer Husband Wife Parents Children Customer feedback (Examples only! You may use at your own risk!) Wife You become restless even when I suffer from a mere cold ! So nice of you ! . Or simply a kiss ! Husband Looking hot tonight ! It is a pretty good dish ! Nothing less than a star hotel taste ! Children My great Papa ! .. My sweet Mummy ! Parents Mera naam roshan karega !

These customer feedbacks are essential to motivate the family members to strengthen the bond of relationship. Benefits of application of Customer focus principle at home : It helps in understanding & meeting the needs & expectations of family members. It helps in improving dependability among family members. It helps in ensuring availability of family members for others.

It It It It

ensures safety & security of family members. helps in joint personal development of family members. fosters open & clear communication among family members. strengthens the bond of relationship among the family members <<O>>

ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU

Fact-I Most companies realize that it costs more money to attract new customers than to keep existing ones. But few companies know how to keep their customers in the current environment of price wars and commoditization. Fact-II All human beings have a high expectation for true love from their family members. When this expectation is not met, they become dissatisfied. Then they go their separate ways to continue search for true love which sometimes end up with separation from the family members.

The Link Does there exist a relationship between Quality & Loyalty? We all know that loyalty is : always there satisfying the The code for quality is fulfilling the requirements for you. customers.

We what is loyalty? Generally speaking,will always be there for us. Whether it is a But expect that those who are loyal it implies faithfulness, trustworthiness, constancy, relationship dependability. dog, spouse, employer, or grocery store down the lane, reliability & with a parent, we judge the loyalty in that relationship based on whether that person or business is there for us when needed.
Let us examine a few real life situations.

Coming back to the topic of linking quality with loyalty, we will now When we were in our mothers wombs, there wasby the basic definition of The food was focus on improving quality. Going perfect unity, simplicity & loyalty. quality, always delivered on time; we didnt have to worry about the temperature or accommodations, and no an asked us to do anything quality definitely results in an improvement were one improvement in or provide anything. Then one day about nine months later, we in customer satisfaction. In a domestic environment, improvement in expelled. Suddenly a gap was created between our mothers and us. We were no longer part of the unity: we were outside forever. quality relationship with family members also results in delight in their minds. (Refer the diagram below.) Although the unity ended, did the loyalty end there?
When you were a child and fell while riding your bike, your mother washed off If a customer / family member is delighted by your quality your skinned knee, put a bandage on it and gave you a hug. In other words, improvement, he/she will be always there for you; in other before and after birth, your mother was always there for you.

words, he / she will remain loyal to you.

In everyday life A number of people go on morning walks with theircreate a Another example : by our improved quality relationships, we dogs. Most of themof loyalty dogourtotally loyal grocery shop ownershimour responds sense say, My in is milkmen, to me; whenever I call & he family immediately or When I come home from work, my dog is always there, happy to doctors.
see me.

In the business environment, by virtue of improved quality of product / service, the customers & suppliers develop a mutual loyalty.

Customer Comments

LOYALTY

Customer Emotions

I NEVER KNEW I NEEDED IT, BUT HOW DID I EVER DO WITHOUT IT? Exciters I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE IT. Desires I MUST HAVE IT.

DELIGHT

SATISFACTION

Basic Expectations

BLASE

Creating Loyalty
There are four behaviours that create loyalty. We have to be accessible when our customers need us. We should never ask questions, never argue, never try to negotiate a deal, or otherwise try to modify a customers behaviour. We should go the extra mile and do more than expected. We should not view a crisis (Customer related) negatively. All these behaviours are equally applicable in the family front.

Aborting efforts for creating loyalty

- We cannot buy loyalty. Loyalty is not money. Just as people cannot buy their mothers, companies cannot buy loyalty. This mistake is made by many companies. They give lucrative offers to attract the customers. Ultimately, the customers end up switching to whoever has the best deal at the time, and loyalty is not created. - We cannot negotiate loyalty. Loyalty is non-negotiable. Deal making or bargaining does not result in loyalty. Last Word The loyalty of dogs is, of course, always doubtful. If the mutton is juicer on the Doing a Quality Work : so-called loyal Lion are other side of the fence, the Creating a dogs gone! So also the loyal customers ! Moral of the story : Continually enhancing customer satisfaction with a goal to maintain the customer loyalty by continual improvement of the process/product/service is the need of the business.

Long, long ago, in a town in Kalinga, there lived four friends. They were very fond of each other and spent much of their time together. Three of them were very learned men. They knew so much that they found nothing more to learn. But, in spite of their learning, they lacked sense. The fourth friend, on the other hand, learned very little. But this man had a lot of common sense. One day the four friends had met and were talking together. They discussed how they could use their knowledge to earn money and better themselves. The first of the learned man said that they should travel far & wide; they should see the world and see the people of different countries. During their travels, they might win the favour of kings & nobles, and so they could gather great wealth. All agreed to this proposal. Then the first learned man said, We three have studied everything and we are sure to do well during our travels. But what about this ignorant fellow? He does not know anything. He will be a burden to us. The learned man replied, Let him stay at home. What shall we gain by taking him? But the third learned man said, That is not the way to treat a friend. It is true that he has not learned anything, but he has been our friend from childhood. We must not leave him behind. So the four friends set out on a long, long journey and soon they were passing through a dense forest. There they found, lying on the ground, the bones of a dead animal. One of the friends said, Here is a chance to test our knowledge. These are the remains of a dead animal. Let us bring it back to life. Then the first learned man, I know how to assemble the bones together. The second man said, I know how to supply skin, flesh, and blood. And the third learned man said, I can bring the dead animal back to life. So the first learned man assembled the bones; and the second learned man provided the skin, flesh, and blood. The third learned man was just going to bring the animal back to life, when the fourth man, the ignorant fellow, shouted, Stop ! Don't bring the animal back to life. It is a lion! You can't bring a lion back to life !

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You are just a fool, cried the third learned man. What do you know about these things ? Do you think I can't bring a lion back to life ? I can, and I shall ! Then please wait a minute, said the ignorant fellow. I am going to climb up a tree first. And the ignorant fellow climbed up a very tall tree. Then the third learned man brought the lion back to life. It was a huge lion. The lion stood up and looked at the three learned men. He roared a mighty roar. And he jumped upon the three learned men and killed them. And when the lion at last went away into the forest the ignorant fellow, who was really a man of good common sense, climbed down the tree and went home. Knowledge can perform a work, not necessarily a quality work. What is a quality work? There must be a taker or user or receiver of the output of a quality work. Secondly, the input to the quality work should not go waste. That means, the quality work should add value to the input and should yield a valueadded product. For this what is needed is a lot of common sense. You may call it business sense or sense of purpose. Had there been a taker for the lion, creating the lion would have been a quality work. Since there was no taker for the product, the product (lion) consumed all the resources (the learned men). Secondly, creating a high value product (lion) only to test the knowledge is an ill purpose. It lacks sense. Yes, business sense !!

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INVOLVEMENT OF PEOPLE

QUALITY MANAGEMENT @ HOME

INVOLVEMENT OF PEOPLE : Members at all levels in a family are the essence of the family and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the familys benefit. The head of the family is not the only person who works & makes benefit for the family. Family members at all levels, e.g., Head of family (may be the husband), Deputy Head of family (may be the wife), I/C of Maintenance (may be the son), Dy I/C of Housekeeping (may be the daughter) etcetcall are essence of the family & all combinedly contribute to the benefit of the family. For example, reducing telephone calls & reducing electricity consumption can be achieved only when all family members contribute towards this cause. They will contribute only when they get involved. Secondly, involvement acts as an enabler of ability. Family members contribute to their maximum ability only when they get fully involved in the functions of the family. Here is an example of how full involvement enables the abilities to be put into use. In a family, the mother got slipped during an outing & broke her leg over a boulder. The father had some urgent official work outstation and had to leave the station after plaster-bandage of his wife. So he arranged a part-time cook who assured to work for some days. The father left for outstation work. But the cook did not turn up. In absence of father & due to inability of mother to stand up & cook food, the school going teenage daughter came up & told her mother to try cooking the meals. She has never tried before independently. But she came out as a successful cook & managed three days till the father returns home. The daughter was so involved that (she never thought of & she never knew) she has the ability to cook the full meals for three persons, twice a day, for three days!

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EK SE BADKAR EK

Can anybody say who is great - Albert Einstien or Issac Newton? Whose role is more important for the present advanced world of science ? Perhaps none. Because every individual is special and unique in his own way. No one can include all the talents of the world within himself and perform all the works of the world. Let us take for an instance, a story from Panchatantra:

SABSE BADAA KAUN ?

On the banks of the Ganga, there lived a holy man. He had magic powers and could do wonderful things. One day while praying in the Ganga a tiny mouse fell into his hands from the beak of a hawk flying above. It was a lovely little she-mouse, with a curly tail and shining black eyes. He liked her at once and wanted to keep her with him. So using his magic powers, he changed the mouse into a little girl. He took the girl home and presented her to his wife. You have always wanted a child. Here is our daughter. Bring her up with love and care, he said to his wife. Years passed, and the little girl grew up into the most beautiful girl in the world. Then the holy man and his wife thought that the time had come to find a suitable husband for their daughter. Our daughter should marry someone who is the most powerful person in the world, they decided. I think the Sun would be the best choice, said the mother. The holy man, using his magic powers, asked the Sun to come down. And the Sun came down. O holy man, why did you call me ? asked the Sun . We want to marry off our beautiful daughter to the most powerful man in the world. Who else is more powerful than you ? So, please accept our invitation and marry our daughter, said the holy man. But, who says that I am the most powerful person in the world ? The Cloud is

more powerful than me. He can cover me making me shine-less, said the Sun.

Then the holy man called upon the Cloud to come down. And the Cloud came down. O holy man, why did you call me ? asked the Cloud. We want to give our beautiful daughter in marriage to the most powerful man in the world. You have the power to make the Sun powerless. So, please accept our invitation and marry our daughter, said the holy man, But I am not the most powerful man. The Wind is greater than me. He can drive me about wherever he likes, said the Cloud. Then the holy man called upon the Wind to come down. And the Wind came down. O holy man, why did you call me ?asked the Wind. I want the most powerful person in the world to marry my beautiful daughter. As you are the most powerful person, please accept our invitation and marry our daughter, said the holy man. But the Mountain is greater than me. He is so strong and tall that I can not move him. I can not even pass over his head, said the Wind. Then the holy man called upon the Mountain to come down. And the Mountain came down. O holy man, why did you call me ?asked the mountain. The holy man spoke about his daughter. But I am not the right man. The Mouse is more powerful than me. It is true that I am hard and strong. But the Mouse makes holes in my body & makes me weak, said the mountain. The holy man called upon the Mouse to come. And the Mouse came. The holy man said about his intent. The Mouse agreed. The holy man thought a moment. Then using his magic powers again, he changed the girl in to a mouse and gave her in marriage to the Mouse.

THE MORAL After reading the story one must be close to the concept of this article. Yes, it is about the actual meaning of Power, authority and Position. Is the Mouse, the most powerful entity? Can really these elements of nature can be compared on the basis of power and size? Definitely not. It is very difficult to find the most significant entity, whether it is the Sun, the Cloud, the Wind, the Mountain, the Animals (the mouse here but we can also consider man). These are different element of our ecosystem. All the elements are equally responsible for maintaining the ecological balance. We generally categorized them on the basis of their size and power. But practically the roles they play are ranked equally. Their authority, power or greatness count less as regards to the very purpose of nature. What matters the most is their contribution to the nature. Similarly in our body, all the body parts are important. Their order of precedence does hardly matter. We can not live a normal life if a single part is damaged. Can we say that eyes are more powerful than legs? THE ORGANISATIONAL SCENARIO : Let us now put this concept into an organisation. Every organisation has different level of employees having different types of authority and job assigned to do. Starting from the grass root level, every employee has their own individual job and shares responsibility with the team members. But for certain job an employee may be singularly responsible. Nobody else can do this job unless delegated. This singular responsibility is commonly termed as Authority. We generally consider authority as power or greatness. But actually authority is also a responsibility. If a person alone is responsible to do a job, it is said that the person has the authority for that job. So, authority is defined as to do a job single-handedly and hence, it does not reflect the power of the kursi or position. People at all levels are the essence of the organisation. With respect to quality and productivity, their contributions towards achieving organizational objective count more. Their roles and responsibilities becomes the key factor. No one can work without the co-operation of each other. The understanding between the

colleagues really matters a lot. Can the employees with high authority control the organisation on their own? Can they take care of each and every activities of an organisation ?

Deployment of various activities requires the distribution of authority and responsibilities. That means, authority is not centralized is an organisation. The decentralization of authority will provide benefits from every employee who want to create and add some value for the organisation. Every employee will come up with his/her own creativity and innovation. Sometimes it happens that the great talents are under our nose and we are unknown of it. The balance and smooth operation of an organisation can only be maintained by contributions of employees at each level. In an organisation, nobody is more powerful or nobody has great authority. All are equally powerful and responsible to achieve the goal of the organisation. CONCLUSION : The Sun, the Cloud, the Wind, the Mountain and the Animals in an organisational ecosystem have their definite roles, responsibility & authority to maintain the purpose of organisation/business. Everybody is doing their bit. All are equally powerful and responsible. All are equally great. The key consideration is their involvement, not the power nor the greatness.

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( Based on the teachings of Swami Vivekananda )

LOVE FOR THE ORGANISATION

Everyone says that we love our organisation. Does anyone know what the nature of

Love should be? The world is full of the talk of love, but it is hard to love. In this section we are discussing about the three principles of love as prescribed by Swami Vivekananda.

The first principle of love is that it knows no bargaining. So long as you see a man love another only to get something from him, you know that that is not love; it is shop keeping. Give me this, and give me that, it is not love. A certain great king went to hunt in a forest, and there he happened to meet a sage. He had a little conversation with him and became so pleased with him that he asked him to accept a present from him. No, said the sage, I am perfectly satisfied with my condition; these trees give me enough fruit to eat; these beautiful pure streams supply me with all the water I want; I sleep in these caves. What do I care for your presents, though you be an emperor ? The emperor said, Just to purify me, to gratify me, come with me into the city and take some present. At last the sage consented to go with the emperor, and he was taken into the emperors palace, where there were gold, jewelery, marble, and most wonderful things. Wealth and power were manifest everywhere. The emperor asked the sage to wait a minute, while he repeated his prayer, and he went into a corner and began to pray, Lord, give me more wealth, more children, more territory. In the meanwhile, the sage got up and began to walk away. The emperor saw him going and went after him. Stay, Sir, you did not take my present and are going away. The sage turned to him and said, Beggar! I do not beg of beggars. What can you give? You have been begging yourself all the time. That is not the language of love. What is the difference between love and shopkeeping, if you ask God to give you this, and give you that ? The first test of love is that it knows no bargaining. Love is always the giver, and never the taker. Bargaining involves : (i) putting pressure on employees. (ii) using strength on employees to get into agreement. (iii) withholding information as regards to performance. Putting pressure on employees to agree to managements terms creates fissure between management & employees, which makes it impossible for involvement to happen. Using strength on employees results in lack of feeling of responsibility.

Involvement cannot happen in absence of responsibility. Withholding information on actual performance creates suspicion and mistrust which stand as two major stumbling blocks for creation of involvement. Instead of bargaining, strategy of mutual collaboration, use of facts & figures, frank sharing of information should be adopted to create love for organisation. Bargaining has negative impacts on the work culture, the economy, the improvement in performance & above all in the involvement of people. Mutual collaboration will foster a positive relationship, mutual trust & confidence between the employees & the management. Bargaining will promote vested interest, while mutual collaboration promotes the interest of the working class as a whole. So, it is very clear that bargaining retards development of love for the organisation .

The second principle is that love knows no fear.

Does the lamb love the lion? The mouse, the cat? The slave, the master? Slaves sometimes simulate love, but is it love? Where do you ever see love in fear? It is always a sham (act). With love never comes the idea of fear. Think of a young mother in the street: if a dog barks at her, she flees into the nearest house. The next day she is in the street with her child, and suppose a lion rushes upon the child, where will be her position? Just at the mouth of the lion, protecting her child. Love conquered all her fear. So also in the love of God. Think of a judge when he comes home, what does his wife see in him? Not a judge, or a rewarder or punisher, but her husband, her love. What do his children see in him? Their loving father, not the punisher or rewarder. Mostly we confuse fear and pressure. We can induce our own pressure, such as the desire to excel or satisfy ourselves, our customer, or our boss, yet experience no fear whatsoever. Increased effort of the individual does not translate into increased results for the company. In fact, just the opposite may occur. People are limited by the systems they work in. Using fear prevents people to feel free to use their creative power in their work. As a result many innovative ideas will remain in their mind. It robs them of pride and joy in their work and kills all forms of intrinsic motivation. The thinking and creative potential of the workers are stopped cold.
Fear, even if it were to produce greater effort, will not produce greater results. But fear doesnt even produce greater individual results. Someone who is fearful takes whatever action necessary to remove the source of the fear. That may mean harming the long-term prospects of the company. When someone is scared in a life-threatening situation, his body may respond with a remarkable surge of strength and energy, which is immediately used to extricate himself from the threat. Everything is done to remove the threat. When fear is artificially used to improve performance, performance is not improved. Instead, much of the effort of the organisation goes into dealing with and removing the threat at the expense of performance. The third principle is that love is always the highest ideal. Dont we see a beautiful woman loving or marrying an ugly man? What is the attraction ? Lookers only see the ugly man ,but not so the lover ;to the lover the beloved is the most beautiful being that ever existed. How is it? The woman who

loves the ugly man takes ,as it were ,the ideal of beauty which is in her own mind and projects it on this ugly man ;and what she worships and loves is not the ugly man, but her own ideal. Bhakti/Devotion for the organisation also centers on this ideal. The people will be completely involved in the organisation only if they consider the organisation, they serve, is the highest ideal i.e. this is the best organisation they can serve; this is the best organisation they can use as the right platform for delivering their best output; this is the best organisation that will help building up their career; this is the best organisation they can find a place to fit into. If this ideal does not exist, love for the organisation is impossible to grow in the minds of the people. In absence of this love, employees will not get involved in the organisation

HOW TO CREATE EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT: Employee involvement can be encouraged by giving scope for three things to the employee: ( i ) Judge, ( ii ) Act, & ( iii) Command. Usually for performing a job, directions (or work instructions or procedures) are given to the employees. The directions are dead end instructions beyond which employees dont think. Employees are instructed what they have to do. In this case they dont have the complete information to judge the changes that can be made to these instructions and to act accordingly, in order to perform the job more effectively. Robot acts. But humans require the information to judge, the authority to act & to command (advise) others, so as to respond more intelligently. The employees should be given a clear picture of the goal, both of the organisation & the department in which he/she is working in, organisations history and mission/policy, & above all the market situation. Giving a thorough knowledge about the job description, will increase their capacity to overcome & eliminate every obstacle coming in their way. This would also increase their job satisfaction. The work culture of the organisation also has an impact on the mindset of the employees. Too much formal relationship between the employees, and the superiors & the subordinates, won't allow them to feel free to work and also to learn things easily. A friendly work environment will create cooperation, knowledge & information sharing attitude, no jealousy, unity & love for the organisation. TQM & LOVE FOR THE ORGANISATION The two major quality management principles are leadership & involvement of people. Leadership involves creating & maintaining the internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving organisations objectives. Leadership should create suitable & healthy internal environment to induce love for organisation in the mind of the employees mind. This love for organisation will ensure involvement of people which is

required to achieve the organisations objectives set by the leader. The second major principle of TQM Involvement of people emphasizes that people at all levels are essence of the organisation & their full involvement enable their ability to be used for the organisations benefit. How people are essence of the organisation? Business operation means: Transformation of customer requirements (inputs) into product/service (output) with the utilization of resources. People are the driving force for this transformation process. People add value to this transformation process. The role of people in the process operation can be compared with the life energy of an animals body, the power of a vehicle or the mind of a human body. How closely the characteristics of the product/service meet the requirements of the input is determined by the quality of peoples work. How efficiently the resources are utilized in the process is governed by the quality of peoples work. In a nutshell, the effectiveness & efficiency of a business process is directly influenced by the effectiveness of people.

Hence the business process can not improve without the involvement of people. Involvement of people can not happen unless the people love the organisation. CONCLUSION : Love is the one motive power in the universe. Under the impetus of that love, Christ gives his life for humanity, Buddha even for an animal, the mother for the child, the wife for the husband. It is under the impetus of the same love that men are ready to give up their lives for their country, and strange to say, under the impetus of the same love, the thief steals, the murderer murders. In the last case the love is there, it is only misdirected. It is under the impetus of the same love employees consider the organisation as their ideal & serve for it without selfishness, bargaining & fear in their mind. It is only how the love is being directed towards the right direction. <<< X >>>

HUMAN QUALITY AND QUALITY OF WORK

Introduction
The quality of work, a human performs, is influenced by his/her humanistic quality his nature and values. The quality of his work is also controlled by the culture, the environment, the system he works in. This builds up the 50:50 rule. According to this, fifty percent of quality comes from within a person and fifty percent from his/her environment especially from the system he works in. What is human quality ? The set of Gunas of human being - Sattwa, Raja & Tama - known as Triguna - is one aspect of human quality. Other aspects are the maarga or path he follows to achieve the objective and the mental-cast which regulates his thought and behaviour.

The Triguna and Quality Objective

Once upon a time there was a king. The king was building a huge temple. During the construction of the temple, it became so famous that a large number of visitors came up daily to see the temple. One day another king, the king of the neighbouring kingdom visited the temple. He saw the beautiful work of sculpture and observed that a good many skilled people were working on it. He asked one shilpi over there, what are you doing ? The shilpi replied, Kan aau karibi aagyan, pathara katuchi (What should I do, sir ? I am only cutting the stones). The guest king went to another spot and asked another shilpi What are you doing? This man replied, Aagyan, nartakira murti tie tiari karuchi (Sir, I am

making a statue of a dancer). The guest king went around and asked another shilpi the same question, What are you doing ? The third shilpi replied, Aagyan, mandira tie gadhuchi (I am building a temple). The guest king smiled and left the site. Let us examine the replies of the three shilpi. Prior to that let us remember what was the objective of the king? To build a Temple. The first shilpis objective was to cut stone. He was not aware of the real job, and the ultimate objective. He was ignorant. He was a taamasik person possessing the guna tama. The second shilpis objective was to make statues. He knew his job well but not aware of the goal. He was a raajasik person possessing the guna raja. The third shilpis objective was to build temple. To achieve his objective he was cutting stones and making statues. He was fully aware of his job and had a clear vision of the path leading to the ultimate goal. He was a sattwik person possessing the guna sattwa. The quality of work of a Sattwik person is definitely of higher grade in comparison to that of a rajasik or tamasik person, because he visualizes the works in totality, because he identifies the interaction of various jobs, because he knows his contribution to the ultimate goal. A production man aims at meeting product specification, a quality control man aims at accuracy in analysis, a materials man aims at timely procurement of raw materials, a maintenance man aims at maximum availability of equipment. But what is the ultimate aim? All these persons should identify themselves with the ultimate objective building a temple! Then only all these persons will become sattwik and the outputs of their jobs will amalgamate to form the ultimate goal. And then there will be the real quality of work !

Which Maarg to follow to achieve Objective ?

The quality of work of a person depends on his natural inclination towards his job, his involvement and commitment. Method of doing a work and approach vary from person to person. Even approaches of successful persons vary. What, then, is the right approach, the sat maarg?

Vedantic idea shows four maargs Jnana, Bhakti, Karma and Yoga. A person chooses a maarg according to his nature and as suitable to his objective. Following table provides a broad guideline.

His approach is He is a/an He frequently asks

Intellectual

If a person follows the maarg of . JNANA BHAKTI YOGA KARMA

Emotional Innovative Practical

Analyser Collaborator Imaginator Implementer What ? Why ? If / But ? How ? How much ? Present facts & Tell him how He expects figures your ideas will Give new ideas Show action steps you to help the people He likes Facts, figures, Heart to heart How to series date, chart, Novelty talk book & discussion. statistics Abstract or Non-human Vague ideas or He dislikes Details mental picture factor concepts In a synthesizing Sequentially & In terms of simultaneous He thinks In terms of action logically feelings manner, one idea leads to another He can teach Write a good Inspire others Be creative Achieve results how to report Finance Marketing, Research & Production, Personnel, Development Operation He will fit in Industrial Relations

( NOTE :

Jnana is knowledge, Bhakti is devotion, Yoga is concentration and Karma is action. )

It is now clear that a person having an attitude to adopt the approach of Jnana maarg cannot deliver a quality output from a job which needs the karma maarg. Similarly the vice-versa is true. A production engineer having an attitude for Yoga maarg cannot produce quality work in manufacturing, but can give good quality output in the field of research. This aspect is to be considered while doing placement of people, designing the organisation and re-engineering the business process.

Human Nature and Quality of Mind !

Human nature is reflected in human needs. These needs attribute to three aspects spiritual, human and animal. A human being having spiritual attribute performs his job quite differently from that having animal attribute. On the basis of this concept the mental cast of humans can be categorized as (i) Divine-like, and (ii) Demonic-like.

The divine-like human qualities include truthfulness, gentleness, modesty and steadiness, freedom from anger, forgiveness, freedom from malice and excessive pride. The demonic-like human displays arrogance, excessive pride, anger, harshness, and manipulation (Srimad Bhagabat Gita, Chapter XVI). In popular consciousness these two types of qualities are depicted through Rama - Ravana metaphor. These human qualities control the thought-process and determine the quality of mind. The output of the thought-process is action. So the quality of action is influenced by the thought process which is controlled by either divine or demonic human qualities. In Indian Psycho-Philosophy, thought is like the spring and action is like its flow. As actions emanate from the thoughts, it is considered important to see the interconnection. This calls for the necessity of thought-action analysis. A quality action must need a clear and pure mind. This is best captured by the famous devotional song Man maila our tan ko dhoye i.e. impure mind is trying to purify the body !!

Conclusion
So it is evident that quality lies in the mind and is expressed in the output of our work. To build quality into our products and processes we have to first

nurture good human qualities in our minds, in our consciousness. Hence, the quality gurus say Quality is an attitude; quality is a mindset. Product quality is only one of the various outcomes of human quality.

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PROCESS APPROACH

QUALITY MANAGEMENT @ HOME

(This is the third article in this series of Quality Management @ Home. In this article we are discussing two principles of quality management that could be implemented at home: Process Approach & System Approach to Management. - Dhananjoy Mohanty) PROCESS APPROACH : A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process. For a family to function effectively, it has to identify and manage numerous linked activities. An activity using resources, and managed in order to enable the transformation of inputs into outputs, can be considered as a process. Often the output from one process directly forms the input or resource to the next. The application of a system of processes within an organisation, together with the identification and interaction of these processes, and their management, can be referred to as the process approach. In a family major activities carried out are : Earning money, Cooking, Housekeeping, Studying, vacation, Recreation, social & cultural activities etc. All these activities can be considered as processes. That means, each of these activities result in some output from some inputs by using some resources. These activities need to be managed by managing the inputs, resources & the outputs. As an example we will consider the activity Cooking here for detailed discussion. The cooking process is defined below:

Cooking Process

INPUT
FAMILY MEMBERS' REQUIREMENTS FOR TASTY, NUTRITIOUS & HEALTHY FOODS

OPERATION
RESOURCES
INGREDIENTS, LPG / ELECTRICITY; CHULLA / OVEN / MICROWAVE; UTENSILS, LIGHTING & VENTILATION; SAFETY AGAINST LPG / ELECTRICITY; SKILLED COOK

OUTPUT

COOKING ACTIVITIES

TASTY, NUTRITIOUS & HEALTHY FOOD

The purpose of the process operation is to transform the inputs into the output by using the resources. So, before process operation we have to identify the inputs of the process. Then to convert this input into output we need to determine the resource requirements. After the process operation the output is delivered to the customer. The customer will be satisfied if the output exceeds his/her requirements. So in every process the input parameters are based on customer requirements. It is now clear that every activity/process operation/transformation/conversion is a value-addition process. If any activity fail to add value this activity is an ineffective activity & is considered as a waste. We need to consider activities (processes) in terms of added value. For effective process operation there must be a defined procedure, not necessarily documented. Should there be a flow chart of cooking process approved & issued by the housewife & hung on the wall of the kitchen? A procedure is a specified way to carry out an activity or a process. For cooking process in a home there exists a specified way defined by the lady of the home. If any person other than the lady of the house happens to cook he/she has to follow the same procedure. Non-compliance to this procedure results in conflict. This procedure is not generally documented, but communicated to all persons who work as a substitute cook. The effectiveness of the process greatly depends on the operational procedure. The effectiveness of tea making process is measured by the taste of the tea prepared. The taste of the tea, in turn, depends on the tea-making procedure; taste of the tea varies even though ingredients remain the same. The grown-up children of the house are made competent in cooking through on-the-job training with the help of this procedure. There are two other aspects in a process : Effectiveness & Efficiency. The cooking process can be said effective when the desired taste & food value of

the cooked food are achieved. The husband asked for a cup of lemon tea. The wife prepared a cup of good milk tea with the flavour of leaf tea. The husband rejected the cup of tea. Although the prepared tea was good in general view, it is a waste in the view of the husband, because the desired result or planned result (a cup of lemon tea) was not achieved. So the tea making process, thus carried out, is ineffective. Similarly the cooking process is ineffective when the salt content or oil content in the cooked dish is more than the desired level. The other aspect is efficiency. Effectiveness relates to the desired result or planned result, where as efficiency relates to resources. A process is efficient when the the result is achieved with the use of optimum resources. A process is inefficient when result is achieved (an output is produced) with the use of higher quantity of resources. In the cooking of a particular dish if more LPG is consumed or more time is taken or more oil is consumed, the cooking process is termed as inefficient. Similarly in the laundry process if more detergent is used or more water is consumed, then the laundry process is termed as inefficient. To make the process effective & efficient it is required to constantly monitor the process. Boiling of tea, softness of boiled rice, salt content of a dish, whistling of pressure cooker are generally monitored in cooking process in order to make the process effective & efficient. Since the output of the process is delivered to a customer, it is also necessary to monitor the satisfaction of customer.

SYSTEM APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT : Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the family's effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives. Let us say, a family's objective is to economically prosper within a period of five years. To achieve this objective effectively & efficiently the family need to identify various processes carried out in the house which can contribute towards the achievement of this objective. Accordingly the family's objective is divided into various tributaries(process objectives). Various processes and their objectives are outlined below. Sl No. 1 Process Earning money Process owner Husband (Father) Objective of the process To earn 25% extra money by extra work or additional work or through other part-time job

Cooking

Wife (Mother) To curtail expenses by 10% through waste reduction & to keep all family members healthy to enable them work efficiently Son To study hard to qualify in the CAT or MAT so as to get a seat in a reputed Management Institute & to get a job in the campus selection

Studying

In the above example we have primarily identified three processes to achieve

the objective of the family. Can these three processes be carried out in isolation? Definitely not. All the three processes are interrelated & they interact with and depend on each other for their individual effectiveness & efficiency. The output of one process goes as input to other process. Their interrelation & interaction is presented below: (in next page)
Input & Resource Output
Need for a better & secure future; Need for family maintenance; Competence; Healthy body; Healthy food

(FATHER)
Money

EARNING PROCESS

Input & Resource

Money; Requirements for nourishing & healthy food

(MOTHER)

Output
Nourishing & healthy food

COOKING PROCESS

Input & Resource

Need for competence, job & secure future; Healthy body; Healthy food; Money

(CHILDREN)
Compete nce

Output

STUDYING PROCESS

We have now identified and understood various interrelated processes in a family system. (Please note that all processes in a family are not presented in the above example.) The remaining aspect in the system approach is managing the processes. The family system and the processes there in are managed through a simple methodology known as P-D-C-A. They are: P : Plan the process and the activities in the process; establish the objective of the process; identify the inputs and resources of the process; define the procedure. D : Do the activities according to the plan & procedure; implement the process to achieve its objective. C : Check the result of the process; monitor the achievement of the objective. A : Act upon the non-achievement of result & objective; take actions to improve the performance This PDCA management methodology applied in the cooking process is explained below:

Process : Cooking Objective of process : Maintain good health of all family members P : Plan : Know the tastes of all the family members; Decide on the menu; Prepare the recipe; Identify and estimate the resources & ingredients; Define or decide the procedure of making the dishes; Make the timeschedule for cooking. D : Do : Shop for the groceries & vegetables etc.; Book the LPG cylinder; Cook the dishes as per the procedure; Serve the dishes in time. C : Check : Monitor the boiling of water & vegetables; Check the softness of boiled rice; Check the crispiness of fried items; Monitor the colour of the dish; Sample and check the salt content or sweetness of the dish; Check the density of the gravy; Monitor the LPG flow for under/over heating; Monitor the puffiness of roti; Monitor the satisfaction of the family members after serving food; Check the health of family members through a doctor; Monitor the medical expenses of the family. A : Act : Remind the LPG dealer if the cylinder is not delivered within stipulated period; Revise the procedure of cooking if the salt content remains high consistently; Change the wheat flour if the rotis do not get puffed; Redesign the recipe if the family members are not satisfied with a particular dish; Use non-stick utensils to reduce oil consumption; Use pressure cooker/pan to reduce LPG consumption; Change the menu or take additional supplements in consultation with a doctor to improve the health of family members.

Benefits of Process Approach & System Approach to Family Management: It helps in understanding & meeting requirements. It helps in adding value while carrying out a process. It helps in obtaining results of process performance. It helps in providing ongoing control over the linkage between the individual processes within a system. It helps in ensuring continual improvement of processes on the basis of objective measurement.

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RULE OF THREE
INTRODUCTION
The history of commercial activities is as old as human civilization. The primitive people used to hunt and produce according to their needs for a day or two. But with the development of civilization, they learnt to live in a community and started growing more than the need. The surplus food or things were bartered for other commodities of daily use, which promoted the idea of commerce and trade. When the trade flourished rules of commerce were developed to make the trade disciplined, effective and efficient.

THE RULE
The Indian mathematicians Brahmagupta and Bhaskara are well known for giving the idea of the rule of three, which was highly regarded by merchants as a tool for centuries. The rule of three depicts the interaction between the three elements of a commercial process resulting in an effective output. Brahmagupta (around 628 AD ) stated the rule as follows The Requisition multiplied by the Fruit and divided by the Argument is the Produce where Argument and Requisition are similar.

Another Indian Mathematician Mahavira (around 850 AD ) also stated this rule in nearly the same form as follows

Phala (fruit) multiplied by Ichcha (needs) and divided by Pramana (specifications) becomes the answer (product), when the Ichcha and Pramana are similar.

EXPLANATION OF THE RULE

Through mathematical expression
Requisition X Fruit Argument Produce

OR,

Ichcha X Phala Pramana

Product

Here,

and,

Requisition = Ichcha = Customer needs Fruit = Phala = Actual result of the process Argument = Pramana = Product Specification, or, Purchasing information Produce = Product = Intended or desired result of the process

This equation shows that the actual result (phala) of business will match with the planned result (intended product) if & only if the customer needs are accurately & effectively transformed into the product specification.

Also, from the above equation, we get

Phala Product Pramana Ichcha

The ratio of the Phala & Product is the comparison of actual result with the intended result. As we know, this is defined as the Effectiveness of Process.
We also notice another important lesson hidden in this rule. It is that the effectiveness of a commercial process equally depends on how effectively the customer needs are transformed into the product specification.

THE LESSON
The effectiveness of a commercial process is determined through (1) (2) how closely the actual result coincides with the intended result, and how accurately the customer needs are transformed into/expressed in product specifications. In other words effectiveness also depends on the design of product & communication.

This is what our own history teaches us to improve the effectiveness of our business process.

This is also what ISO 9001 : 2000 prescribes ! CONCLUSION To improve our business process, we have to (i) effectively realize the product, and (ii) make our internal & external communication effective <<< X >>>

CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT

GOING UP ON A LADDER.......
Once upon a time there was a king who wanted to launch a project for improvement in well-being of people. So he searched for a Project Manager. Two persons applied for the job. The king was to decide on the right candidate. So he devised a unique test for the selection. He called the two candidates to come for the test along with their wives. There were two high rise towers in that kingdom. The King asked the two wives to climb to the top of each tower separately by the stair. The wives climbed up & sat on the terrace of each tower. Then the king asked two candidates to rescue their respective wife without going to the top. The first candidate collected a strong rope & tried to throw it to the top to reach to his wife. But failed. He then tried a catapult to launch the rope, but failed. He tried this, he tried that, but failed in every method. He then asked his wife to jump down so that he could catch her before she fell on the ground. Before that thing happened, the king fired the candidate. The second candidate brought a long rope, some stout twine, a pack of cotton thread, a pack of silk thread, a beetle (a black insect with a hard case on its back) and a little honey. He then attached the silken thread firmly to the the beetle, smeared its horns with a drop of honey, and set it free on the wall of the tower, with its head pointing upwards. The beetle started on its long journey, smelling the honey ahead until at last it

reached the top of the tower. The man asked his wife to grasp the beetle and to get possession of the silk thread. He then tied bottom end of the silk thread to the cotton thread and asked his wife to pull the silk thread & to catch the cotton thread. After this was done he tied the stout twine to the bottom end of the cotton thread. And asked his wife to pull. The same process was repeated for the rope. After his wife got possession of the rope he asked his wife to tie the rope to a pillar of the tower at the top and to slip down over the rope. While the wife slipping downwards & about to thrust against the ground the man rescued his wife. The wife was on the safe hands of her husband. The king & the people of the kingdom were observing the whole scene. The king & the people then congratulated the newly appointed Project Manager. X X X X X What is the lesson from the story ? Small, step by step, continual improvement makes a success story ! What is Continual Improvement? Every "Improvement" signifies a "Change". However, every "Change" in the organisation need not lead to "Improvement". The change could mean change in Men, Material, Machine,or Method. Unless there is change in entity or behavior of these Ms followed by a change in the performance level, the change can not be classified as "Improvement". Basically there are two types of improvement : 1. 2. Improvements in the form of small-step ongoing activities integral to existing processes, i.e., Continual improvement Strategic breakthrough improvement projects :

Organisation should continually seek to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its processes, rather than wait for a problem to reveal opportunities for improvement. Continual improvement asks for step by step small small improvements & to make it an ongoing process. Big objectives can be achieved through small small, step by step, ongoing improvement processes. Here in our example,in order to achieve the main objective i.e. To rescue their wives,the candidates were asked to use their own methods. In such a situation, the candidate, finally appointed as Project Manager, had adopted the principle of continual improvement. He started his mission by taking small small incremental steps. Instead of directly throwing a rope towards his wife, he first of all took the help of the small insect, beetle with a silk thread attached to it. Then he took a cotton thread, and then a stout thread, finally made a strong rope to reach his wife. And asked his wife, to slip down over the rope. This is what we call continual improvement.

Continual Improvement is all about repeated growth. It is about of HABIT of Improvement, Growth or Success. This will also need to be understood from the reality that we do not do everything with perfection. We only improve as the time goes by. We all remember our Learning Process of Alphabets. The first letter written by us is always beyond recognition. We improve them as we practice. This is true to all profession. The system Progress is more important than the Perfection. The Progress is the Key word in Continual Improvement.

What are Benefits of continual improvement?

Continual Improvement must impact following: 1. 2. 3. 4. Improved performance of the product/ service Enhanced features in the product and/or service Increased Productivity Increased Efficiencies of Operation

Continual improvement transforms the drive towards quality into never-ending journey. Gradual and continuous progress through incremental improvements means that organisation can never accept that they are in the best that will ever be. Continual improvement helps the organisation to compete globally. Small-small incremental steps requires less resources, both financial & human. And also early results are likely to be modest at best, & frustration & abandonment are avoided. Continual improvement mainly involves struggling even for high levels of performance. This will help the employees wont lose their enthusiasm for their job.

How to carry out Improvements ?

Continual improvement is making small changes in a whole bunch of areas instead of a huge change in one area its possible that one gigantic blast might bring lose to the organisation. Small changes in many areas can be easily done. Before starting the the process of continual improvement ,the key requirement of the organisation and also the process to improve. It can be focused on reducing the length of time required to carry out any process, or reducing the amount of scrap generated in the manufacturing process or reducing number of accidents in the workplace, or improving relationship with customer or supplier. Improvement in the processes is only possible with the help of individuals in the organization. People who do the activities in the companies are the best ones to show ways how to do it better. Empowerment for problem solving & decision making at the grass root level can be used as a tool for this

purpose. Good measurement methods will tell us where we really are and give us milestones to hit along the way. Good data, good decisions. Bad data, bad decisions. Measurement is s key tool along with broadcasting the small steps to keep them coming. Examining processes to see if they really are the best way to do something. We have to be an guard for the attitude of Weve always done it this way it can stifle creativity and hold us back from exciting new ideas. Creativity is one of the answer for continual improvement. Creating a focus on prevention. This will help move an organization toward the Continual Improvement mindset, too. Be being proactive instead of reactive, we can make positive strides toward improved operations and save resources (time, people, money) along the way. Training the employees of the organizations in good problem solving techniques. This really sets the stage for positive re-designing of processes and operations.

Where does Continual Improvement fit in TQM / ISO-9001:2000 ?

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach centered on quality which :
is based on the participation of all members of the organization and encouraging personal initiatives. is aimed at long term success through customer satisfaction; and provides benefit to all members of the organization and society strives for opportunity for continual improvement

Continual improvement is an inherent part of TQM. Continual improvement process provides organizations with the internal drivers for change through measurement, and the culture to help them seize the opportunities through teamwork, leadership and communication training. The principle of continual improvement is also included in ISO-9001:2000. ISO-9001:2000 has provided certain tools for continual improvement of the effectiveness of the quality management system through the use of the quality policy, quality objectives, audit results, analysis of data,monitoring & measuring the processes corrective and preventive actions and management review. The quality objective of every functions in an organisations should reflect some

continual improvement than the objective which they have already achieved. This will provide a more challenging objective to the employees. Continual improvement of the effectiveness of the quality management system must be included in the quality policy. Planning and implementing the monitoring, measurement, analysis and improvement processes is needed to demonstrate conformity of the product, to ensure conformity of the quality management system, and to continually improve the effectiveness of the quality management system. This shall include determination of applicable methods, including statistical techniques, and the extent of their use . Continual improvement requires management support. Top management should provide evidence of its commitment to the development and implementation of the quality management system and continually improving its effectiveness. Management should continually seek for small-step ongoing continual improvement in the effectiveness and efficiency of the processes of the organization, rather than wait for a problem to reveal opportunities for improvement. The results of the audits also shows opportunities for improvements. Every organization should have a process in place to identify and manage improvement activities. Correction, unlike corrective action, is the action taken immediately after the occurrence of the problem. Actually it is just fault rectification without knowing & eradicating the root cause behind it. This does not ensure continual improvement as the cause of problem remains untouched and has the maximum chance of re occurrence. Corrective action eradicates the root cause and thus helps in improving the performance level. Preventive action helps in detecting the problem before its occurrence and thereby assuring a problemfree performance. Top management must review the achievement of the objectives set by them. Feasibility for further improvement through setting higher & more challenging objectives must be reviewed. The assessment of opportunities for improvement and the need for changes to the processes / system, including quality policy and quality objectives should be reviewed.

How relevant is continual improvement in an organisation?

Continual improvement should be a permanent objective of the organization.

The objective of the Quality Management Principles itself is to Continually Improve the Performance. This improvement signifies growth of the organisation. This growth needs to be Continual process. Just like planning a budget or planning resource requirements, Continual Improvement has to be built into the fabric of our business along with

everything else. If it hasnt been planned for, organized and properly supported, Continual Improvement just won't happen! No one would want to grow once. We want growth year after year. The organisation should try to be better than it was a day before. <<<>>>

FLYING A KITE HIGHER

& HIGHER

A young boy was flying a kite at his roof top. The boy was actively controlling the path of his kite to reach a greater height (Annex-A) and hence was doing fair running over the terrace to control his kite. In the process he fell down from his roof top. The impact was in the form of a fracture in his right elbow (AnnexB). Hearing his crying, father of the boy came running and took him to hospital, where he was treated with bone setting process and putting a bandage on his elbow (Annex-C).

The father came back from hospital and went to his roof top. He was trying to find out why his son fell down (Annex-D). The father figured out that the roof top parapet wall did not have adequate height. The parapet wall was of very low height failing to prevent overturning (Annex-E). He went on to raise the height of the parapet wall (Annex-F). The entire sequence of event was observed by the neighbor, who also had a boy. He went to his roof top to check his parapet wall and found that the parapet wall over his roof top was also having inadequate height. (Annex-G). Based on his finding the neighbour also raised the height of the parapet wall on his roof top (Annex-H). Once the boy was fit to fly the kite again and started flying kite, father fame to the roof top to see that the height of the parapet wall was good enough to prevent the boy from falling down again (Annex-I). The neighbour also verified the adequacy of his newly raised parapet wall (Annex-J). WHAT DOES THIS STORY TELL US

The story depicts the total mechanism for continual improvement. We will now discuss this story with the logic of quality management system with respect to the situations having reference to Annex. Annex-A : The boy wanted to continually improve by going higher and higher and reaching a greater height. This was his objective. An objective is one of the many tools for making continual improvement. We are setting and meeting quality objectives only to continually improve in our performance. Annex-B : A fracture in the right elbow is a problem in the path of achieving the objective or making improvement. Problems do occur in every operation. Simply resolving a problem is not enough for making improvement; preventing the same problem from recurrence should be the strategy. Annex-C : Setting the fractured bone and putting a bandage on the elbow is termed as Correction which is meant to rectify the ailing element showing the problem. Taking Correction enables the element (the boy) to be fit and to continue its operation (flying kite), but does not ensure prevention of recurrence of the problem. Putting the bandage of the elbow will not prevent the boy from falling down from the roof top, it will only make the boy fit again to fly the kite. So in addition to taking correction we have to take some other action to prevent the problem to recur. Most of the time, we remain busy in making various alternate corrections such as putting on plaster-of-

paris bandage, or synthetic resin bandage, or Ayurvedic hot massage. In that process, we totally forget to take that other action needed to prevent the problem. What is that other action ? Annex-D : After coming back from hospital, the father went up the roof top to examine the reason for falling down. By this examination he tried to link various causes with the problem (effect). This is nothing but cause and effect analysis to identify the root cause of the problem. Annex-E : The father figured out that the parapet wall was of inadequate height which failed to prevent overturning. By this he identified the root cause of the problem and determined what action would be taken to prevent the problem to recur. This process needs logical approach and analytical skills to decide on the action needed to prevent the problem. Determination of resource requirement and cost-effectiveness analysis are also to be done at this stage. Annex-F : Raising the height of the parapet wall was the action to prevent the problem to occur. And this action is called the Corrective action, what is referred to as other action earlier. While correction is taken to re-enable the problem facing element, corrective action is taken to root out the problem. Annex-G : The neighbours son had not fallen down from the roof top. But he had foreseen the problem that might occur to his son. He had foreseen it by observing his neighbourhood, his environment. This is what is called identification of potential problem. Annex-H : The neighbour also raised the height of his parapet wall. His son had not fallen down but still he took action to prevent the problem to occur at very first place. This action is preventive action which is taken to eliminate the cause of the potential problem. Annex-I : After the height of the parapet wall was raised and the boy started flying kite again, the father went up to verify the effectiveness of the corrective action taken whether the new height is adequate enough ? Verifying or checking the effectiveness of corrective action taken is needed to ensure that the action will result in improvement. Annex-J : The neighbours verification of his newly raised parapet wall is verification of preventive action for monitoring its effectiveness.

WHAT IS THE MORAL OF THE STORY

1. Keep an eye on your neighbours; learn from their problems / mistakes.

The neighbourhood, the society, the market, the similar industries, the work environment act as primary source of information for foreseeing a potential problem. Watch relevant happenings in the world. Observe the things with an open mind. Try to identify yourself with these happenings. Ask yourself will this situation come in my life ? 2. Observe', dont just see : Most of us only see, dont observe. Most scientists and philosophers have invented and discovered wonderful knowledge and theories only after pondering over the cause and effect relationship of what is observed by them. It is not that such incidences that led to great theories were seen by the scientists for the first time, people have seen those events earlier also. Observing an incidence/effect leads to identifying the cause of the effect. Unless cause-effect analysis is done, a problem can not be eliminated. 3. If you want your kite to reach a greater height, raise the height of your parapet wall. This is a logic to go against the blind faith prevailing in our society. This blind faith forces us to take only correction (not even corrective action) after a problem occurs. Our approach for ongoing improvement must be to identify the potential problems, determine their root causes and to take action, even before the problems occurs, to eliminate the potential causes. In most of the organisations, the opportunities for improvement do not take shape due to this blind faith of taking correction after the occurrence of a problem. Many of us say prevention is better than cure; but how many of us practise it for the improvement strategies in work life ? 4. Raise your parapet wall before the doctor removes bandage from your sons arm. Complete the parapet raising work much before your son becomes fit again for flying kite over the terrace, i.e., take timely corrective action before the operation re-starts. Corrective action is meaningful & effective only when it is taken in time.

<<<< >>>>

Dard Ka Ant Turant !??

(Instant Relief Vs Permanent Cure)

One-day some hunters were giving a chase to a deer in the forest. The deer ran

very fast and when he become exhausted, he hid himself behind a thick bush. The hunters have gone at last, said the deer, after hiding there for a long time in the bush. The long run had made him feel very hungry. Looking here & there he could see only small plants at a distance from the place where he was hiding. Who will go to those distant plants to eat, let me eat these tender leaves from this bush only! thought the deer. Then the deer started nibbling the leaves of the bush, and soon he almost ate all of the leaves of the bush. The bush was no longer as thicker as it was! The deer got the instant relief for his life from hunger. Unfortunately, the same group of hunters again returned back to that place. The deer tried to find place for hiding, but there were no such! Be quick, the deer is standing there near that bush, they cried. One of them shot an arrow & killed him. While the deer was dying, he wept saying, I am only responsible for my own death. If I had not started eating the leaves of the bush, which had protected me from danger, the hunters would have never found me. This is the punishment for my lack of vision & going in for a quick & easy solution to get an instant relief. XXXXXX The morals of the story : Be aware of the fact that - todays comfort do not carry the seeds of future disaster. Going for an instant, easy & comfortable solution may result in situations which are very difficult to tackle. Quick fixes, i.e. instant & easy solutions do not last long; it is always wiser to go in for a solid solution. WHAT IS A SOLID SOLUTION? Solid solution is a solution which has been derived after analysing the problem with respect to the Causes & Effects, taking into account or foreseeing all the pro and cons which is unlike for quick fixes. Solid solutions to any problem require time, foresight, patience, sacrifice and discipline, but they have large long run pay-offs. Quick fixes may give you instant gain but never guarantees an assured future. The basic difference between solid solution and quick fixes is the difference between investing in the future and mortgaging it. They can be compared with instant relief versus permanent cure. Of course , one cant ignore the short run benefits. Every organization has to find the right path of business between todays profit and tomorrows growth. Both are essential. But solid solutions need more attention because they give

greater rewards, because they are so much harder to come by. Long-run success in business is rare because it is difficult. Some managers & organisations go in for quick fixes to make a wave in the market. But the same wave turns violent & washes them away. Here is a story of an Instant Hero. INSTANT HERO I am talking about a manufacturing firm who sacrificed its long-term competitive advantage so that one of its divisions could reach its profit goals for just one quarter. Well, it happened in case of Rakesh, a divisional manager of that company. Due to change in market scenario, the sales of the firm had suffered a lot. So management had to find out way to make up this loss within one quarter. In order to encourage the division managers, it was declared that all of them shall be given increment on the basis of the percentage of profit they make in that quarter. All the divisional managers thought over this for increasing the profit of the company. Rakesh did also find a easy way to get an instant profit. He laid off 30% of his labour force in February, which drastically reduced operating costs & enabled his division to exceed fourth-quarter profit projections by a handsome margin. This pleased the top management & they recognized Rakesh as a corporate hero, winner, moneymaker & gave him a big increment as a reward for snatching profit from the jaws of red ink. But the story does not end there! Unfortunately, Rakeshs quick fix had devastating long range consequences. For years Rakeshs company had the luxury of being the only non-union outfit in the industry. This gave it a tremendous strategic advantage over the competition because it was not saddled with high cost, inflexibility and administrative hassles of restrictive work rules, regulated hiring & promotion policies, strikes, collective bargaining and so forth. But shortly after the February layoff, angry workers held a representation election & by summer the entire company was unionized. Incredible as it seems, Rakesh destroyed his own company for his foolishness.

PRACTICAL GUIDELINES TO IMPLEMENT SOLID SOLUTIONS Here are ten examples each of solid solutions and quick fixes which can be used as practical guidelines for implementation in an organisation. 1 2 3 Do this Make a commitment to a long-range plan and stay with it. Regularly retool and invest in new and better ways to get things done. Treat the employees as a part of the company. Invest in the growth, developments of an ongoing, committed & well-trained team. Commit to the development of new and better products and services because innovation is any businesss greatest capital asset. Have customer service that generates repeat business Maintain fair and stable prices that generate customer trust and loyalty. Acquire only those businesses the company has the skills to manage Reward people, through an ongoing program for finding ways to work more efficiently. Emphasize quality as the key to improving productivity Realize that the people closest on the job usually know most about it and tap their brains power. Instead of this Achieve short-run goals at any cost Use old equipment until they fall apart because thats the cheapest way to go. Hire and fire employees as needed. Avoid the development of new products and services unless the payoff is high and the risk is low Try to make a bundle on one quick sale. Raise and lower prices to reach current profit goals. Venture into a new industry because the financial gurus promise fast payoff with low risk Slash expenses to the bone in a cost-cutting drive Deliver the goods on time at any cost Let managers make all the decisions because it is faster and they are paid to do so.

5 6 7 8 9 1 0

ISO 9001 & 14001 also prescribe Permanent Cure ISO 9001 & 14001 also speaks something similar addressed as Corrective Action. The organization should take action to eliminate the nonconformities/problems in order to prevent recurrence. Before taking any corrective action, determine the causes of nonconformities, focus on it and take action such that nonconformities do not recur and also take care that some other new nonconformities does not occur. The same can be ensured by reviewing corrective action periodically. ISO 9001 asks to make 'instant relief' only in the event of ineffectiveness of the process when the process is under continuous operation. But this is as a temporary measure to correct the process or product for a short term. This does not intend to avoid taking corrective action, i.e., permanent cure.

CONCLUSION We all know that both in life as well as in business, the future belongs to those

who plan & are aware of the potential problems. But, our instant reliefculture has lulled us into believing that tomorrow will always take care of itself. But actually (and we should believe), if we take care of our tomorrow, then only tomorrow will take care of itself. So dard ka ant turant is true only for the moment. It is a temporary phenomenon. It does not ensure non-reccurrence of the dard. So we should aim at - Dard ka ant hameshakeliye.....

THE TAIL OF A PROBLEM

During the period of banabaas, one day, Draupadi asked Bhima to get her some uncommon flower, the scent of which was brought by a gentle breeze

blowing over the forest. The next day, Bhima was on his way searching for the flowers. Nobody could tell him where they grew, but Bhima knew he should go in the direction from which the wind blew. It was the wind that had carried the sweet scent of the flowers to Draupadi. Bhima had to pass through the deep forest. On his way Bhima passed through a beautiful garden. In it were flowers of all colours and many fruit trees. There was a path through the garden and Bhima followed it. Suddenly he saw an old monkey lying on the ground right across the footpath. He was angry that a monkey should block his path. He felt insulted. He stopped and said: You old monkey, how dare you block my path? Get up and move to one side so that I can go on. The monkey lay still as if he had not heard Bhima. Didnt you hear me? cried Bhima. Get out of my way before I smash your silly head. The monkey slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Bhima and said: I am too old and I have no strength left in me to move. Why dont you walk round me and leave me alone? You old monkey, said Bhima, do you know to whom you are speaking? Havent you heard of Bhima, the mighty, the great Pandava? I am he. I always walk a straight path. I dont allow anyone to get in my way. I never admit defeat. Then the monkey said: A big man like you should not quarrel with a sick, old monkey. You can easily jump over me and go on your way. Or if you dont like that, you can move my tail to one side and then go. If you dont like to touch my dirty tail, why dont you push it aside with your club (gaddaa)? Suppose your tail snaps in two? asked Bhima. Suppose your club breaks? replied the monkey. Bhima was very annoyed with the monkey. But he was getting late. He decided to push the monkeys tail aside with his club. He put his big club below the tail and tried to raise it. The tail did not move. He tried again but still it would not move. Bhima used more strength but the tail was still where it was. Then he used all his strength. He pulled with all his might, but still he could not move it even one inch. He tried again and again and failed every time. Bhima thought he would take the club away from that part of the tail and use it at another part. But the club would not come out. It was stuck under the tail. Bhima pulled it once, he pulled it twice, he pulled it a hundred times. But he could not pull it out. He grew tired, but he could not leave his club there. He looked at the old monkey. The monkey lay there, calmly smiling. Bhima wondered how such a small, old monkey could be equal to his own great

strength. What would people say if they heard that Bhima had been defeated by a monkey? Perhaps, Bhima thought, the monkey possessed some magic powers, or perhaps it was a devil who was taking this form to get the better of him. But he was not the man to be afraid of magic or the devil. He cried: You silly monkey, who are you? You are not a monkey. No monkey ever had such strength as you have. You have got magic powers or else you are a devil. I am not a devil, nor have I any magic powers, replied the monkey, I am Hanuman. X X X X X X (For this article we end the story here. Are you interested to listen to the complete story? Write to us.)

IT IS A SMALL PROBLEM !

As regards to our process operation, we always think ourselves as the Bhima. We feel that we are highly competent, omnipotent, omniscient, and have great command over our processes and we can solve any problem that may occur in our work areas. No problem can challenge our capabilities. We assess the problem from the face of it and conclude that the problem is a small one or a minor one or a negligible one like the tail of the monkey. The problem like the monkey stands as an obstruction on our path. But we are so hurried to reach to the goal that we want to resolve the problem by pushing the tail of the problem aside instead of removing the whole problem from our path. And we use the most traditional/conventional tool (gaddaa) to solve the problem. When we fail to crack the problem, we start thinking laterally the problem may be a devil or may have magic powers. We start searching for the root cause and observe that the root cause of the so-called minor problem is not a minor one. The problem, then turns out to be a Hanuman. Then we start making strategy to remove the Hanuman-like-problem from our path.

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

How do our brains function when they face a problem? The human brain has four distinct quadrants. The rear view of a human brain with the four quadrants and the characteristics of these distinct quadrants are shown below / in next page:

Analysis Judgment

Vision Imagination

Logical Factual Critical Technical Analytical Quantitative Conservative Structured Sequential Organized Detailed Organising Planned Detailing

Visual Holistic Intuitive Innovative Conceptual Imaginative Interpersonal Emotional Spiritual Sensory Feeling Feeling People

Problem solving mindset

Based on the functions of the quadrants of the brain we possess a distinct mindset. The rear view of the brain with the quadrants and various mindsets are shown below:

ENGINEER DETECTIVE JUDGE EXPLORER ARTIST

IMPLEMENTER

Various problem solving mindsets are: - Engineer mindset : A combination of top left and top right brain : Best suited for problem definition - Detective mindset : Top left brain : Best suited for search & analysis of cause - Explorer mindset : Top right brain : Best suited for visualising alternate causes - Judge mindset : A combination of top left and bottom left brain : Best suited for creative evaluation of causes & solution - Artist mindset : A combination of top right and bottom right brain : Best suited for idea generation for solution - Implementer mindset : A combination of bottom left and bottom right brain : Best suited for implementation of solution

Steps in creative problem solving

To remove the Hanuman-like problem from our path, following steps may be followed: Problem definition Idea generation Creative evaluation Solution implementation

1.

problem definition:

For better analysis of the problem we can refer to the similar type of problem aroused in the past. This is what we call data collection. After collecting the various past data, one can very well know the root cause of the problem. So the analysis of past data will make the situation much clear. After analysis of these causes, one will be able to define the problem. The main objective of all these activities is to identify the real problem. The problem may be different type but we may consider it in different way. Now we have the complete information about the real problem. The persons having a mindset of an engineer (a combination of explorer & detective mindsets) can be able to give an effective approach to the problem at this stage. The explorer mindset is mainly for seeking out the contexts and trends, finding conclusions by connecting various activities and foreseeing the future i.e. whether the problem can reoccur .The detective mindset mainly searches for causes and clues & collects and makes analysis of data. While trying to solve a problem one should maintain an incubation (introspection) period between defining a problem and then going for search of solutions. One should not move directly to idea generation for solving the problem. One should sleep on with the problem, allowing the relaxed &subconscious mind to work on the defined problem, analyzing whether the solution decided by you wont create any new problem or whether the solution is having an adverse effect on some other aspects. One should give a break to encourage his own insight. This method is also adopted by some of the worlds most creative people. They utilize the moment of silence & solitude for their best ideas. 2. Idea generation : After defining the problem, now comes the stage for transferring the collected information into new ideas. This mainly requires teamwork. Brainstorming among the team member can provide a number of solutions. By this one can have a variety of options to solve the problem. Mainly wild ideas are encouraged, which are little bit challenging. Criticism of ideas is not allowed, rather every suggestions are taken into consideration. Criticism will stop people to give their ideas. More emphasis is given on quantity than on quality. Before evaluating and shortlisting the ideas, a break should be taken. Judgement of the ideas is done in the later stage. An artistic mind set is more appropriate for idea generation i.e. a person having a good imagination power as well as ability to understand the feelings of people. 3. Creative evaluation : This mainly involves evaluating whether the wild ideas are practically feasible or not. One can combine the positive part of one or more suggestions to make a perfect solution. In this stage, emphasis is given on quality rather than quantity. Shortlisting the various ideas generated in the brainstorming is done& finally the judgement is made at the end. A mindset of an engineer & a judge is required i.e. power of imagination, organizing the detail & then giving the judgement after analysis.

4.

Solution implementation:

In this stage, the selected ideas are put into action. Before directly implementing, planning is to be made. An implementer or producer mindset is required for organizing the information sequentially considering emotional & spiritual aspects and at the same time, working on the resource & time management and finally implementation. After implementation, final evaluation is made. <<<>>>

STRATEGY & RESOURCES

We shall win by any means by Kala, Bala or Kaushala !

When we face a challenging situation & we are determined to win over the situation, we say: We shall win by any means kale, bale or kaushale. What are Kala, Bala & Kaushala? Kala is machine, equipment, tool, instrument, hardware, software, weapon and similar things with which any work is carried out. Bala is man power, muscle power, physical strength, force, pressure, authority and similar things, which get a work done. Kaushala is skill, competence, strategy, tactics and similar things, which is employed to get a critical, complex or difficult work done. Generally kaushala is employed when kala & bala become ineffective or inefficient. Let us consider a case to explain further: Two workmen have a job. The job is to shift a 500kg box from the store to the workshop. They may do it in three different ways. First, they may request the auto section to depute the mobile crane with which they can lift & shift the box from the store to the workshop. This is the means of Kala. Second, they may call five other workmen and, together, physically lift & shift the box from the store to the workshop. This is the means of Bala. Third, these two workmen may bring two small pipes & a crow bar with which the heavy box can be placed on the two pipes, rolled & shifted to the workshop. This is the means of Kaushala (in association with some minor kala).

Bala or Kaushala - which is greater ?

A lion lived in a forest. One day, when he did not find any prey and was driven by hunger, he entered a cave thinking: There must be some animal living in this cave. He waited inside the cave patiently for the arrival of a potential meal. The cave belonged to a jackal. When the jackal returned and was about to enter the cave, he noticed the footprints of the lion leading into the cave. However, there were no footprints coming out of the cave. The jackal realized that the lion was still inside the cave awaiting his arrival. To confirm his suspicion he employed a trick. He shouted: O Cave! O Cave! Then he paused for a while and said: Why dont you call me back. Dont you know that I do not enter you unless you invite me? The lion heard all this and thought that the cave must be responding to the jackals call every time. Perhaps his cave is scared of me and thats why it is not responding to the jackals call, thought the lion.

The lion decided to respond to the jackals call, imitating the cave. He called out: Come in! Come in!

When the jackal heard the lions roar, he understood everything and ran away. XXX Only hard work & strength may not be sufficient to satisfy our needs we must use our brains also. The jackal beat the king of the forest with his brains and the king had to put up with his hunger. The higher up you are in the hierarchy, the more you will have to utilize brain power, else you may be left hungry nursing your ambitions, much like the lion.

Different Kaushala for different situation

A jackal named Mahachaturak once lived in a forest. One day he found a dead elephant. Although he tried his best, he could not eat even a small portion of the flesh because the elephants skin was very thick and hard. Right then a lion arrived there. The cunning jackal bowed in respect and said: O Lord! You have arrived at the right time. I have been protecting this elephant for you. Please relish its flesh. The lion replied that he did not eat prey killed by others and walked away. The jackal was happy that the lion had gone without eating the elephant. Suddenly a tiger arrived. The jackal shouted: O uncle! Why have you come here? This elephant has been killed by the lion, who has gone to take bath after instructing me to guard the killed elephant. He has also asked me to inform him as soon as I see a tiger. He is very angry with tigers as a tiger once stole an elephant killed by him. So please go away as quickly as possible. The tiger requested the jackal not to inform the lion about his presence and slunk away. After the tigers departure, a leopard arrived. The jackal welcomed him: Welcome! Be my guest! You have arrived at lunchtime but how helpless I am. I cannot even provide you something to eat. This elephant was killed by a lion, who has gone for his bath, instructing me to guard the prey till he returns. If I do not treat my guest, however, I will be committing a grave sin. So you can relish the elephant while I stand guard. As soon as I see the lion coming, I will inform you. The leopard agreed and began tearing the elephants skin with his razor-sharp canines. The jackal watched him from a distance. When the jackal saw that the leopard had torn enough of the hide for him to consume the flesh, the jackal came rushing towards the leopard: O uncle! The lion is coming! Run! Run! The leopard fled. Since the tough skin of the elephant had now been penetrated, the jackal happily began to tuck into the elephants flesh.

Right then another jackal arrived. Mahachaturak (the first jackal) fought the second jackal bravely and killed him. He then enjoyed the flesh of the elephant

for many days. XXX The tactics you employ to fight different competitors have to be varied, depending upon the strength of the person. Problems are different. Situations are different. So kaushala for resolving the problem should be different. Winning strategy should be different for different challenges.

In absence of ability to apply kaushala, apply bala :

A snake lived in a hole. He was enormous in size. In the vicinity also lived an army of ants. This huge snake while moving killed many ants. The queen ant was in stress how to get rid of this huge snake. They did not find any kaushala to kill the snake. One day the snake tried to emerge from his hole using some other exit, which was too narrow. The snake was wounded and began to bleed. The smell of the blood reached some ants. The information was passed on to the queen ant. She ordered the whole army of ants to swarm. They swarmed all over the snake and began to bite the wounds. This made the snake writhe in pain. Ultimately, the snake could not bear the pain and died. When you don't have brain, apply brawn.

Kala, Bala, Kaushala in ISO 9001

ISO 9001 also addresses these three means. Kala is addressed under the clause Infrastructure wherein it stipulates : The organisation shall determine, provide and maintain the infrastructure needed to achieve conformity to product requirements. Infrastructure includes process equipment, and .... Bala is addressed under Provision of resources which states : The organisation shall determine and provide the resources which includes human resources. It is also addressed under the clause Responsibility and authority which states: Top management shall ensure that responsibilities and authorities are defined in the organisation. Kaushala is addressed under clause Human resources which states : Personnel performing work affecting product quality shall be competent on the basis of appropriate education, training, skills and experience. It is also addressed under the clause Competence, awareness and training which states: The organisation shall determine the necessary competence for personnel performing work affecting product quality, and provide training or take other actions to satisfy these needs. This reflects that ISO 9001 also recognises the significance of Kala, Bala & Kaushala as three strategic resources for establishing, implementing & maintaining a management system.

Spiritual relevance of Kaushala

In the Mahabharat, Kaushala is demonstrated in so many situations. Krishna had applied kaushala as the winning strategy through out his life. In the battle of Kurukshetra the Pandavas had won over their enemies only by kaushala not by kala or bala. The great worriers of Kauravas such as Bhishma, Dronacharya, Karna, Duryodhan were defeated by the application of kaushala, when it was observed that it was impossible to defeat them by kala or bala. In the Gita, kaushala is considered as the key ingredient of Karmayoga. Verse 2.50 in Chapter 2 of the Gita says : Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam. It means skill in action is the karmayoga. Demonstration of skill in work / action is the karmayoga. Dexterity or skillfulness in work is karmayoga. Working with kaushala without being attached to the fruits of work is karmayoga or selfless service. So when we set in for doing a karma we need to do it with kaushala.

Conclusion
Karma without kaushala is a bad karma. A bad karma does not produce desired output, and hence a waste. Karma carried out with kaushala is a good karma. A good karma always delivers the desired output. A good karma is a tribute to the organisation we work in. Only with good karma we can be true karmayogi. <<<O>>>

KAMZOR KADI KAUN ?

( Total Quality & The Three Missing Links )

(Raw material sourced from : www.dbainc.com ; Re-written by : Dhananjoy Mohanty)

Introduction
There's been a flood of opinions challenging the effectiveness of Total Quality Management (TQM). Some journals critically reviewed the performance of some world-class companies. These critical evaluations raise an important point: quality-oriented companies still have something to learn. Reports indicate that Total Quality activities have been time consuming, difficult to sustain, and slow in producing measurable results. Some organizations are already looking elsewhere for answers: customer service programs, cycle time reduction and employee empowerment. It's too soon for top management to be changing priorities or direction, however. Let's strengthen the quality foundation that's been started.

Missing Links of TQM

Most TQM efforts overlook three related ingredients: Strategy, Structure and Synergy. We could call them "The Three Missing Links".

1. Strategy
Most companies proclaim they're "already doing Quality"; this means training courses, clever posters and commitment statements. But there is a lack of emphasis on tools and techniques. People work on internal process stabilization; not on process improvement. Quality is viewed in terms of products, production-related activities and reduction of defective output. This is a beginning, but not part of the long-term business strategy. Total Quality must be integrated with the overall mission, objectives and plans of the organization. Very often, it is not. Many companies, in fact, don't have the strategies necessary for survival. Few include Quality as an integral building block. Consider the following examples: A Company M/S ABC says: "Our strategy is to grow sales by 20%." This is not a strategy, it's an objective or goal. The strategy should describe how sales will be increased, i.e. the methods or means for accomplishing the sales objective. Examples could include:

Development of more attractive pricing or product features More effective advertising or promotional activity Faster delivery or distribution More training and support for sales representatives

Another Company M/S XYZ says : "Our strategy is to be the leader in Customer Satisfaction." This is also an objective or hope, requiring defined methods or strategies to be meaningful. The strategy could be:

- Gather information from customers and translate customer feedback into annual product and service improvements. Install an ongoing process for identifying improvement needs, stimulating projects, and reviewing results on a quarterly basis
In each case, there is a softness in connecting quality to the practical plans for running the business. An organization has to integrate quality into the following strategic steps:

- Mission / Policy - broad definition of organizational purpose: " To be a recognized leader in providing Quality products and services..." - Objectives - specific descriptions of achievements desired: to improve Quality by: "Reducing customer complaints and returned items by 20%..." "Increasing on-time completion by 15%..." - Strategies - general methods, means and concepts for achieving objectives: "Gather and analyze field failure information for use in guiding Quality improvements... - Plans / Programmes - who's going to do what, by when? "Detailed agreements involving Customer Service, Sales, Finance, etc..."
Total Quality can be reflected in these strategy elements. It then becomes an essential part of business strategy which is accepted and supported by top management. This is often a missing connection.

2. Structure

The good news: many companies are streamlining their "command and control" organization structures; reducing management levels, eliminating layers of approval, reducing barriers between departments and work groups.
The bad news: there is still a lot of restructuring by The 5% Rule: "Every year you get 5% more work and 5% less to work with". Employment levels and expenses are reduced. As a consequence, people are often overloaded and processes lose their performance capability. The structure becomes an obstacle to quality.

Common structural barriers include: A) Conflicting goals and objectives

One part of the organization is tasked with reducing inventories to meet corporate asset management goals. In other areas - material shortages cause production delays, missed deadlines and late completion

B) Inadequate resources

Senior management cuts employment levels or capital expenditures to meet short-term budget targets. As a consequence - personnel and equipment capacity is reduced, unable to meet customer demands.

C) Systems misalignment

Systems for administering performance evaluation, compensation and promotions focus on rupee volumes, production units or sales quotas. To employees - quantity is seen as the top priority, quality as a secondary concern. Misalignment of goals, resources and systems wastes 20 - 30% of most organizations' true potential. Structures must be realigned to encourage improvement. Characteristics of quality-focused structures include:

- Organization Charts - reflect the needs of customers and external markets rather than internal work functions and administrative convenience; some companies are experimenting with structures designed around market segments rather than functional titles like "engineering" or "sales" - Goals/Measurements - go beyond financial indicators, to include external customer satisfaction, internal supplier/customer relationships, and key vendor performance - Recognition/Reward Systems - consider quality of performance as well as quantity, and encourage suggestions, innovation and change

3. Synergy
Nearly every company seeks improved cooperation and teamwork. Quality Circles, Selfdirected Work Teams and Employee Involvement programs have been tried with some effect. There is still a long way to go, however. The workplace is filled with examples of people working "on" each other, rather than "with" each other. Consider the territorial fights in today's corporate world: there's the manufacturing tribe, marketing tribe, finance and human resources. Each has their own job description, unique measurements and goals. The emphasis is on "looking good" and succeeding as a department. As in mythological wars, "flaming arrows" are exchanged between groups when problems or conflicts in priorities arise. How effectively do our managers, departments and locations work together? Teamwork requires them to share: A common mission Congruent, compatible goals Mutual trust and respect Equity of recognition and rewards A "Win-Win" philosophy (It's only a good deal if we all benefit)

Organizational effectiveness is reduced by internal conflicts and compromise: like a tug-of war team with members pulling in the wrong direction. Synergy occurs when individuals, departments and management levels cooperate and help each other. Everyone has to be pulling together for the team to win. This is the other missing link.

Conclusion : Peak Performance

The answer to the business challenge of this new century is Peak Performance, learning to operate better, faster and cheaper. The winners will be those who learn to do more with less, seeking continued improvement in every activity. Today's Total Quality programs have a start in uncovering and unlocking the hidden potential in the companies. Progress will accelerate as business leaders continue the struggle and learn to: -

Integrate Total Quality into strategies for improved customer service, response times and profitability Realign organization structures and systems to reflect changing customer needs and quality improvement opportunities as they are discovered Recognize that people are the most important resource, and that employees have knowledge and experience to contribute. "None of us is as smart as all of us."

Total Quality may have been excessively promoted, raising expectations for immediate results. Perhaps companies have underestimated the time and effort necessary for permanent and effective change. The fact is, global standards for products and services will continue to increase. It will be profitable for those who achieve them. The promise of Total Quality is to put management teams back in touch with their customers, processes and people. The journey has just begun. TQM can be "just another fad", or can be the key to survival and growth in 2000s. Development of Strategy, evolution of Structure and pursuit of Synergy are essential. These "Three Missing Links" can make a difference.

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FACTUAL APPROACH TO DECISION MAKING

Factual approach to decision making

What is decision making? Decision making is used to achieve organizational goals. Decision making is a process of evaluating and selecting the best from among alternatives available. The selection of best alternative will be made only when pros & cons of all of them are discussed & evaluated. Basically decision making is the end product of various discussions & deliberations.

Approaches of Decision making: Basically there are two types of approaches of decisions making. One is based on individual perception, experience, feeling, intuition, thoughts etc which is called as irrational decision making . The other one is based on fact, information related to present & past performance, groups opinion ,which is what we call as Factual approach of decision making What is Factual approach of decision making ? Decision making is the process of sufficiently reducing uncertainty and doubt about alternatives to allow a reasonable choice to be made from among them. Factual approach of decision making stresses the information gathering function of decision making. Every decision involves a certain amount of risk or uncertainty. Those decisions which are made with complete knowledge about all the alternatives, always have less uncertainty or risk. Information is the catalyst of management and the ingredient that coalesces the managerial functions of planning, operating and controlling. Without information, a business simply cannot survive. Information flows are to the life and health of a business what the flow of blood is to the life and health of an individual. The recipe for a good decision is 90 percent information and 10 percent inspiration. Without good data we cant expect good decision. If we are making decisions with poor information, we are bound to make poor information. This means so a great part of decision making should focused on finding accurate information and useful information Our data gathering activities have to be consistent and have to improve all the time. Theres nothing more frustrating and costly than jumping to wrong conclusion based on no data or bad data. The factual approach of decision making is actually weighing the pros and cons of the future consequences by analysis of the information available. There is no room for individual instinct or experience in this approach. The approach will help to make in improving another key point of decision making process i.e. transparency. Our decision must make sense to those around us or we will lose credibility. If we can demonstrate how we arrived at a

particular conclusion, and if we can show that our decision making process is sound, we can then rely on the outcomes more often. Negative aspects of decision based on individual perception, prejudices etc: It is seen that when an individual looks at a particular problem ,he cannot look at all possible angles of a complex problem and he may miss an important aspect of the issue. By gathering information related to the same will help in eliminating chances of risk involved in the decision. More information can give more alternatives solutions for a problem which will be definitely better than a single perception. Individual perception may involve personal biases or personal conflicts. Decisions in these cases wont be reliable and dependable. Decisions should aim at organizational interest as a whole. These decisions may also involve personal and self centered interest, which can diminish the efficiency as well as the quality of decision. Decision making process should be democratic in nature. Democratic decisions are more acceptable than autocratic ones. Individual decisions are more autocratic in nature. Gathering information related to the decision will require participation of the people involve in the work. The implementation of decisions will be more effective when the people who are going to implement the decisions are the people who have also participated in decision making process. If the individual taking the decisions is dominant in nature , this decreases the participation of the members involves in the decision making process. This thereby decreases the acceptance of the decisions. And a decision which has less acceptance will also be less effective. Decision making in factual approach: Defining the problem: The first step in every decision making process is to find out the correct problem, What is the root cause behind the problem? That may be due to system failure, process inefficiency, human error etc. No problem presents itself in a such manner that an immediate decision can be taken. If the problem is not correctly defined then the efforts and money spent on a wrong decision will go waste. Moreover a wrongly defined problem may create fresh difficulties instead of solving them. Identify the data and information needed: The following are some generic data or information that can be required for analysis of any problem: - Frequency of occurrence. - Various other root causes behind the problem.

- Repetition of the particular problem - Cycle time - Amount of waste or NC product in the process. - Cost of production. - Amount of manpower involved - Amount of energy consumed Sources of data or information: The following are some examples of sources of information that can be taken into consideration in the decision making process : Customer complaints Nonconformity reports Internal audit reports Output from management review Output from data analysis Output from satisfaction measurements Relevant quality management system records The organisations people Process measurement Customer & user survey reports Feedback on aspects of product Customer requirements & contract information Reports of the Market needs

Collection & analysis of data: This is one of the important step in decision making process which ultimately helps to the find various alternatives methods to solve a problem. Collected information should be relevant and comprehensive. It has to be ensured that information is adequate & collected under controlled conditions. Making use of available information also saves our valuable time. After collecting information about the problem, then it has to be decided whether it is sufficient to take a decision or not. The collected information should provide enough knowledge how much risk the decision involves as well as the degree of precision the purposed course of action can afford. Whatever information are collected has to be properly analyzed for getting number of alternative methods. The following are some techniques that can be used for this: Flow diagram Graphs Pareto analysis Cause and effect diagram Stratification Scatter diagram Histogram Control charts

Evaluation of alternatives:

After developing various alternatives ,the next step is to evaluate them & select the right one. The pros and cons of the different proposals should be foreseen. The alternatives should be evaluated in relation to time, money & favourable consequences involved in them. Only that alternative which gives maximum economy should be selected. Results of analysis and making decision: The results of analysis should reflect :
o o o o o o

the trend of improvement customer satisfaction increased effectiveness & efficiency of processes success of its performance improvement objective economics of quality, financial and market-related performance supplier contribution

When the various alternatives are properly evaluated, then a final decision is taken. The decision and its various aspects should be communicated to the concerned persons for action. The effectiveness of the decision taken will depend upon the cooperation of the employees actually working on it. How factual approach of decision making is relevant to QMS: Analysis of data can help to determine the root cause of the existing or potential problems, and therefore guide decisions about the corrective and preventive actions needed for improvement. For effective and efficient operation, planning for preventive action has to be done systematically. This should be based on data from appropriate methods, including evaluation of historical data for trends, process performance records, satisfaction measurement records, market analysis etc. These data will provide information to satisfy the needs and expectation of customers. For an effective evaluation of the total performance of the organisation by management, data and information from all parts of the organisation should be integrated and analyzed.

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QUALITY TIME

Quality Management @ Home :

Quality Time
The meaning
The expression "quality time" is very common in our society today. What exactly does this phrase mean? To most people, this means concentrated, uninterrupted time to spend with family or friends. It is believed that this 'time' should make up in quality for what is missed in quantity!! There are many expectations set up for quality family time and many times the reality of life does not meet our expectations, thus resulting in feelings of guilt and resentment. One expectation of quality family time may be that it will be relaxed and free of conflict. It is also expected that it will provide an opportunity to have meaningful conversations and do worthwhile things with our loved ones. Sometimes it is hard to find the "right" time to actually schedule quality time. As children get older it also becomes difficult to schedule this time as they are usually very active with academic and extra-curricular activities. Parents often expect children to be in a good mood when family events and activities are planned and this does not always happen. So, should we just give up on having "quality time" with our family? No, however, we may need to adjust our expectations.

The Theory
We consume time to carry out an activity. We carry out activities to get something done, to get some desired results. Before carrying out any activity we expect some results. These results are expected out of certain requirements or needs that drive us to do the job. Hence, an activity can be considered as a process. A process is a set of interrelated and interacting activities which transforms inputs & outputs by utilising some resources. The needs & requirements that make us act are inputs to this process. The results of the activities are outputs of this process. And time is one of the major resources we consume to carry out the activities, in addition to other resources like our bio-energy, tools, transport, consumables, fuel etc. Time is an intangible resource. What is quality time? We talk of quality of materials, products, services and some resources. But we hardly talk about the quality of time. When a product/service fulfills its functional requirements, we consider it to be a quality product/service. When a material fulfills the requirements for its physical &

chemical properties it is termed as a quality material. Similarly when the time fulfills the requirements for its utilisation, it is called quality time. The requirement for utilisation may include the purpose for which it is to be spent, the person for whom it is to be spent, or the place where it is to be spent.

The Aspects
(i) Time Poverty: Work has become the new religion, a way to satisfy the hunger for meaning in life. We look to work to provide us with a sense of identity and a means to secure our future. And because we invest so much time in our work life., we like to reward ourselves with material things. Frequently, we spend our money before it is earned. Debt is a niggling worry at the back of the mind, keeping us chained to the work treadmill even when we crave a respite. We are time-poor. This asks for quantity of quality time. (ii) Living in the moment : We should adopt the art of living in the moment as a possible antidote to the self-inflicted stress caused by time poverty. It is a Buddhist concept, meaning that we should enjoy each moment and activity for its own sake, rather than trying to do lots of things at once and constantly casting the mind forward to the chores ahead. This leads to spending quality time.

The Classic Example

As per the wish of mother Kunti, in the Mahabharat, Draupadi got married to the five Pandav brothers. After that she was in a fix : How to be an ideal wife, at a given time, to all the five brothers with undivided loyalty & commitment? How to cater to the varied needs & expectations of the five brothers with an undivided mind and satisfy all at a given time? She asked Krishna to help her out. Krishna only smiled and did not utter anything. He looked at Maya (the close associate of Draupadi) and hinted at something. Maya understood Krishna's hint, smiled and submitted a proposal : Draupadi will stay with one brother, in turn, as a wife for one year and during this year she will behave as a mother or sister to all the remaining four brothers. This proposal was accepted by Draupadi & all the five Pandav brothers. It was a very difficult role for Draupadi : she should not think of other brothers while staying with a Pandav; she must surrender herself, completely, to a

brother every year; she should not think of brothers.

Arjun while staying with other

Draupadi became a great woman due to her complete commitment of time, energy & love to a pandav every year, due to her undivided devotion, loyalty and faithfulness to the 'present husband'. She lived in the moment spending quality time with each husband. Her quality time made her a great wife, a great woman and a sati.

The Act
We spend only 2hrs 30mins a day with our loved one, so here's how to make it count. You might think living with a loved one means more time together - but in reality, sometimes, partners practically never 'see' each other. Research has found couples spend just 150 minutes a day together, mostly watching TV, eating or doing chores - but that doesn't mean it has to be dull. Based on some case studies we have created a minute-by-minute schedule for the perfect two and a half hours. So read this - it will only take a you moment, and could improve your relationship. (i) 10 minutes : UNBURDEN THE DAY When back home from the work, switch off from work over a quick drink and a snack. Allow each other five minutes to narrate the salient features of the day's work or boast of any achievements at work, while the other just listens. Then you avoid talking about work for the rest of the evening. Obviously, if there are major worries then you should spend more time talking them over, but the aim is to draw a line under your work life. You are together; so do concentrate on you as a couple. (ii) 30 minutes : PLAY OR INTIMACY This calls for aiming to work as a team and do something fun; playing sport will provide stress relief and bring you closer.

It's best to try something new to both of you, such as yoga, which is very relaxing, or a walk it is healthy, or a visit to neighbour it is social, or singing it's fun, and requires working well together. Avoid spending hours doing sport on your own. If you spend two hours every night alone, it's not going to build intimacy.

You need to do whatever works for you in shaking off any residual stress from the day; so you are completely relaxed. Whether you have full benefit / comfort or not is beside the point. You want to do things that connect you as a couple. (iii) 15 minutes : DO THE HOUSEWORK SHARE the chores; so you can grab more time later. Sharing a little bit of housework each day spreads the burden, so it doesn't build up. Now you can spend Sunday doing something nice together instead of being tied to a mop or a broom. (iv) 30 minutes : WATCHING TV TOGETHER Even lounging around in front of the TV can be a good time to get closer. There's nothing wrong with watching TV, but do it constructively. Don't veg out. Pick a programme you know you are both going to enjoy. Nothing can be more cosy than being curled up on the sofa together, but nothing is less intimate than sitting isolated at either end of the sofa. Laughter is also very important so make time to watch your favourite comedy serial or whatever gives you a giggle. (v) 30 minutes : HAVING DINNER Nutritionists say couples or family members should avoid eating dinner glued to the television. TV dinners are bad for communication and digestion, so make an effort to eat together at the table. Prepare a meal together or take it in turns to cook so it doesn't feel like one is doing all the work. Aim to have a healthy diet. The better you eat, the better you look and feel. That boosts your self-esteem and how you get on.

Relationship experts say, talking over dinner is good to air problems before they turn into a row. They say, approach criticism / complaint in a nonconfrontational manner, using phrases like 'What are we going to do about this?' Compliment your family members and remind them they are the most important person to you.

(vi) 10 minutes : PLAN A TREAT Discuss something you can look forward to together. Whether it's next year's summer holiday or a birthday treat, make time to talk about the nice things in your relationship. People spend too much time talking about the problems and worries. Having something positive to discuss keeps you enthusiastic about the future of the relationship and stops life becoming too routine. (vii) 5 minutes : SOMETHING THOUGHTFUL LITTLE things mean a lot. Whether it's popping out to buy roses for the wife or putting out the dustbins because your partner hates doing it, doing something thoughtful boosts a relationship. It proves that you have noticed what is important to the other person. (viii) 15 minutes : TIME BY YOURSELF Don't forget to give yourself some TLC (tender loving care). All couples are different, but it's nice to be able to spend some time by yourself, to remind yourself that you are an individual as well as one half of a couple. It's also healthy to have hobbies away from each other. (ix) 5 minutes : A FINAL TIDY-UP Pack away everything, tidy the kitchen & the drawing room, switch off the lights & appliances, bolt the doors, shut the windows. There's nothing like a tidy house to prepare you for a restful night's sleep together.

The Conclusion
There are simple things we can do to enrich our lives. The greatest danger is that in our rush to jump over the hurdles we have set ourselves, we forget that time is a finite resource. By managing this resource we can make timeless improvements in our lives. <<<O>>>

Quality Cost

HEALTH - MONEY - QUALITY

During a recent official trip to Gujarat, a Doctor and a Chartered Accountant were my copassengers. The Doctor practises at his own clinic set up at Surat. The CA works in a pharmaceutical company, certified for ISO 9002. When I introduced myself the Doctor expressed that he heard about industries implementing occupational health management system but he had little idea about the quality management system. Then I looked at the CA. The CA smiled & told me that he had a fair knowledge on the quality management system but he was not involved in it because his management said that his activities were not essential for the quality management system. The CA also said that his management asked him to furnish some figures with which they work out the cost of quality. The CA requested me to explain the concept of cost of quality if I knew. The Doctor looked more confused. To involve him in our discussion I explained the concept of "cost of quality" in comparison with the "cost of health". It went like this: "You may compare Quality with Health in toto. To maintain a good health you are taking some precautionary/ preventive measures. You are taking vaccinations, doing exercises, drinking mineral water, controlling sugar & fat in your diet. What for? It is only to assure a good health. You are incurring some expenses for prevention of sickness i.e., for assuring good health. What is this cost? Let us call it 'prevention cost'. In addition to the expenses that we incur for prevention of illness we also spend some money for regular medical check-up for sugar, BP, ECG, eyesight etc. When we fall sick doctors also advise us to do a series of tests for blood, urine, stool etc. What is the need of these tests? For appraisal of our health. Is not it? These tests assess the status of our health and help the doctors to decide the preventive or corrective measures to be taken by us. So what should we call this cost? Let us call it 'appraisal cost'. When our health fails, we fall sick and we go to the doctors for cure i.e., to bring the health back to normalcy or to improve the health. For this we pay fees to doctors, buy medicines, special dietary supplements and accessories like spectacles, hearing-aids etc. We may call this cost as curative cost or correction cost. But, since these expenses are incurred when our health fails, is not it right to call it as 'failure cost' of health ? So, the summation of prevention cost, appraisal cost and failure cost is the 'total cost of health'. Now let us compare various costs of health. We may extend the logic of 'prevention is better than cure' to 'prevention cost is wiser than failure cost'. It is because at a small expense of 'prevention cost' we may avoid a large amount of 'failure cost'. You can compare the cost of a bottle of purified mineral water with the cost of treatment for jaundice or dysentery caused due to drinking of raw water during an

outing. To maintain a good health we incur higher 'prevention cost' & as a result the 'failure cost' decreases substantially. So higher is the prevention cost lower is the failure cost. It is also important that the cost of prevention should not be increased to such a level to find it unreasonable as compared to the cost of our life. We have to strike a balance between these two costs and to arrive at the optimum level. The 'appraisal cost' is incurred to determine the conformance of our health i.e., to assess that all the requirements of a healthy body are met by us or not. If we evaluate our health more frequently & more intensively and take preventive measures to avoid sickness (failure of health), the appraisal cost increases; but the treatment cost (failure cost) gets reduced. Hence higher is the appraisal cost lower is the failure cost. Appraisal cost may be reduced by us if our health remains in conformance with the specified standards consistently." I told them that this concept also applied to the quality of a product. The product & the quality may be compared with our body & health respectively. In the mean time we reached Nagpur. The Doctor got down to bring some fruits. He said that he preferred to take fresh fruits during a train journey. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

COST OF QUALITY
Cost of quality is the cost incurred for assuring conformance of products and disposing the nonconforming products. It is the 'cost of conformance' plus 'cost of non conformance'. In the other way, it is the 'cost of control' plus 'cost of failure of control'. Cost of conformance has two elements in it: Cost of Prevention, and Cost of Appraisal. Cost of non conformance is nothing but Cost of Failure. Failure may be internal i.e., occurring inside the premises of the producer, or may be external i.e., occurring at the premises of customer. Accordingly failure cost may be an 'Internal Failure Cost' or an 'External Failure Cost'. The cost of conformance is inversely proportional to the cost of non conformance. They add up to make total cost of quality. Cost of quality attains the lowest value when further increase in cost of conformance (prevention & appraisal) does not bring down the cost of non conformance proportionately. Hence beyond this point the cost of quality goes upward.

Examples of cost of quality:

Prevention cost : Training, System audit, Vendor evaluation, Management Reviews etc. Appraisal cost : Product inspection & testing, Calibration of equipment etc. Internal failure cost : Break down maintenance, Scrap, Rework, All types of corrective actions etc. External failure cost : Warranty claims, Liability costs, Repairing or replacement of defective goods, customer complaint investigations & resolutions. A TV manufacturing company increased the training cost by Rs 2.5 lacs, and invested Rs 3.75 lacs on new testing equipment. At the end of the year it was observed that there was a decrease of scrap costing Rs.2.25 lacs and the warranty claims fell by Rs 5.75 lacs. How much did the company gain or lose on cost of quality? ( Answer : Gain of Rs 1.75 lacs ) BENEFITS OF ANALYSING COST OF QUALITY 1. 2. 3. 4. Facilitates creating a culture of sharing information Exposes vulnerable areas which require immediate attention for quality improvement Helps to priorities allocation of resources based on data Gets management commitment for quality movement

5. Helps to integrate annual business plans with quality plans 6. Brings measurability in quality management system 7. Provides customer with a more consistent product in less time and at lower cost

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IMPLEMENTING TQM

ATTAINING TOTAL QUALITY THROUGH PRINCIPLES OF BUDDHISM

INTRODUCTION An industry or business suffers from miseries like generation of nonconforming product, process ineffectiveness, customer dissatisfaction etc. These miseries lead to recycling of the product, rework and value-loss causing more miseries. This situation can be compared with the wheel of Karma, birth and rebirth. How to get rid of these miseries and attain total quality the nirvana ? In business sense nirvana or salvation can be treated as the complete acceptance of the product by the customer the God. In this situation, there will be no rejection by the customer, i.e. successful union with the God; there will be no recycling/rework of product, i.e. cessation of rebirth making a successful end of the cycle of karma or process. Buddhas principle says, there are four noble Truths of life, every body must realize. And there is the noble Eight-fold paths, everybody must follow to attain Nirvana, the salvation. By applying these two principles, an organisation can attain total quality. Let us examine how. THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS In his enlightenment, Buddha discovered the real causes of the miseries of human existence. He also discovered the way to escape from those miseries, which followed endlessly in the wheel of karma, birth and re-birth. These discoveries were called the Four Noble Truths. The first truth is the Truth of Pain or sorrow. Life is full of pain or problems. So also the life of an organisation. Manufacturing a product is always associated with quality problems. Problems do also exist in getting the product accepted by the customer and in making the customer delighted. The existence of this pain/problem is in the nature of life, whether human or industrial. The second truth, according to Buddha, is the Truth of the cause of pain/problem. These causes are the needs and expectations of the customers and our desire or thirst to meet the customer needs and make him delighted. This desire is the root cause of all problems leading to pain. The third truth is the Truth to end the pain or problem. This end or cessation of

problem is possible by fulfilling the desires and ending them. Elimination of causes is to lead to the end of problems (effects). End of problem and pain leads to real freedom - freedom from non-conformity, ineffectiveness, inefficiency and customer dissatisfaction. The fourth truth is the Truth to end the desires or causes. This is possible by a noble way to attain the real bliss- customer delight. Buddha described this path as the Arya Astangika Marga or the Noble Eight-fold Path. This path is the real path to complete the cycle of processes (karma) successfully, eliminating the possibility of rework/recycle (rebirth).

The Noble Eight-fold Paths Buddha gave eight principles to follow as his noble eight-fold path. This noble path is a Code of Conduct for every man. It became the basis of Buddhism as a religion. It was hence, called a religion for social happiness. This path, which Buddha showed was a practical path to follow. This path was meant for the common people. These eight fold paths are : Right Vision, Right Aims, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Thought/awareness and Right Meditation/ contemplation. By Right Vision or views, Buddha meant that man should realize the pain and problems in this world, and the causes and root causes behind these problems. No body can get happiness by staying with these problems. So man should rise above for a new vision for the true happiness by resolving the problems. The organisation must have a right vision to identify the present and potential problems & their causes with respect to the nonconformity, ineffectiveness, inefficiency and customer dissatisfaction. By Right Aims or aspirations, man should not run behind his power and wealth, and should not run for passion, pleasures and enjoyment. Instead he should aim at loving other fellow men and giving them happiness. In a business scenario, the organisation must not aim for short-term profits or pushing the products to the market by any means to get immediate happiness/ return on investment. Instead it should aim for developing loyalty with its own employees and customers. Money should be the by-product of doing right things. The organisations aspiration must focus on benefit of all the management, the employees, the suppliers and the customers. The organisation will improve if all of them became happy in unison. By Right Speech, man should give up false hood, lies, criticism of others and quarrels which spoil the place of others and of the society. Instead man should be truthful in his words and friendly and kind in his talks. This principle talks about effective and faithful communication. The internal communication in an organisation must have clarity, openness, straightness and freedom from confusion. The employees must develop good inter-personal skills. The organisation should have a strong communication system with its suppliers, customers and other external agencies.

Organisations should meet their verbal commitments. By Right Action or conduct, man should avoid violence and killing, give up harmful acts like theft and stealing, and instead should work for the good of all in a virtuous way. The application of this principle in business organisation is manifold. It asks for effective process operation, carrying out the jobs right first time and every time, abstaining from killing time in work hours, following work procedures, yielding desired output, making the internal suppliers and internal customers happy, taking appropriate and timely corrective and/or preventive actions to improve. By Right Livelihood, Buddha advised man to live by harmless means, not by selling or taking spurious and injurious things for himself or others. The organisation must refrain itself from and/or buying/selling nonconforming products, untested products and unsafe products. By not doing so, the organisation may earn easy money, but that will not give longterm profit/happiness. Instead, the organisation must live a safe, honest and faithful life for peace within the organisation and peace outside. There will be no place for problems/pain in this peaceful work environment.

By Right Effort or exertion, Buddha meant a correct discipline in mind and action not for any evil practice but for a proper exercise towards all that was good. Man was asked to develop nobler feelings for better efforts. The business process operation depends on man, machine, method and materials. So right human effort is indispensable to achieve process effectiveness. Completely involved employees, fully committed employees and motivated and discipline employees can only exert right effort in process operation to make it effective. Employees must feel that the growth and development of the organisation are not different from that of the employees. By Right Thought or mindfulness or awareness, Buddha wanted man to be conscious of the unrealities of his existence, unrealities of the bodily pleasures. Man is advised to refrain from evil thoughts and was asked to give up evil designs from his thought. Instead he was to nurture pious, positive and creative thoughts to result in beneficial actions. The business process, to be effective, depends on human effort or action, which is the output of the thought process. Thought is like the spring and action is like its flow. An impure mind with wrong thoughts cannot yield an effective effort. This calls for a right mind set, a right attitude among the employees of an organisation. Finally, by Right Meditation or contemplation, Buddha wanted man to concentrate his mind on the real truth of existence. It was necessary for the discipline and training of the mind towards the higher goal. In a business environment the real truth is not to produce product, operate machines or sell products. The real truth is achieving total conformity, achieving organizational objective, achieving customer delight. All the employees should be focused towards this and must concentrate on this. While doing his bit contributing towards this real objective, everybody must be sincere and concentrated on respective job. This will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the process operation. Attaining Nirvana Attaining Total Quality Nirvana is the ultimate liberation from the miseries. Total Quality is the ultimate liberation from the quality problems, nonconformity, process-ineffectiveness, processinefficiency and customer dissatisfaction. To enjoy the bliss of Nirvana/Total Quality, it

is advised to follow the Noble Eight-fold path. This would liberate the product from rebirth or rework or recycle and would ensure union with God i.e., complete acceptance by customer creating customer delight.

TQM in Our Kitchen

- Dhananjoy Mohanty
(Foreword : While reading an article titled Curry Asia's Spice of Life in an old issue of the Reder's Digest, I realised that Curry the common dish in our kitchens has many similarities with the TQM what we implement in our workplaces. In this article I made an attempt to present this similarity. After reading this article, I hope, you will join me saying: TQM World's Spice of Worklife.)

Introduction Curry is a way of cooking. TQM is a way of operating a business, a way of managing an organisation. Curry is made out of basic ingredients like mutton, chicken, mushroom, brinjal, potato, paneer, peas etc., which give the name to the curry. An organisation has basic ingredients like infrastructures, people, materials, markets, a work environment & products which give the name to the organisation. But with these basics only can a curry be prepared? No, it needs the spices the vital ingredients which add the flavour & colour to the curry. Many spices are used in a curry, e.g., onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, chilli, saffron etc. Many spices are also used in TQM. These include Business excellence model, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, Six Sigma, TPM, 5-S etc. Making available the basic ingredients & the spices, is it easy to cook a delicious curry? Is it easy to implement TQM given its spices?

Making a delicious curry

Making a delicious curry & implementing TQM effectively are not easy jobs. Nor even too difficult! In fact they are great jobs! For these great jobs there are four simple rules which, when followed, assure a delicious, flavourful &

colourful curry & also an effective TQM. Rule-1 : Always, always make sure the spices are freshly ground. For a good flavour don't use packed curry powders or pastes of spices. They do not add real flavour & colour to the curry. More over they come with a risk of expiry date. Similarly always, always make sure the spices(tools) used to implement TQM are fresh & latest standards & approaches. There were many standards & approaches since 1960 being implemented till 1999. Those now crossed their expiry dates. So they are not useful now, in present market scenario & modern work environment. If you use them they will spoil your curry, sorry, TQM. Managing By Objectives was strongly opposed by Dr Deming in sixties. But MBO is a widely used spice used in present day management curry. Time is a quality characteristic of all spices. Rule-2: Saute onion & spices slowly (Fry the spices chopped or freshly ground, over a slow prolonged heat); Work in a moderate speed, step-by-step, but continually. Slow sauteing or frying onion & other spices over a slow heat adds colour & flavour to the curry. Similarly gradual implementation of various tools brings effectiveness, strength & maturity to TQM of the organisation. In curry making, first, onion is fried in oil over a slow heat & only when it turns golden brown, other spices such as garlic, ginger etc. are added. When they are fried other spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, clove, pepper are added. This step-bystep sauteing brings tastes, colour & flavour to the curry. If all these spices are put simultaneously in the pan & fried, there is every possibility for the curry to turn bitter, dull, smelly & tasteless. Similarly, TQM implementation strategy involves step-by-step application of various tools, e.g., firstly, ISO 9001, the basic tool for every business organisation, ISO 14001 comes second protecting the environment, OHSAS 18001 comes next ensuring safety & health of people, SA 8000 comes later for overall wellbeing of the society. Other minor tools such as TPM, 5-S, Six Sigma may be applied intermittently or may be integrated with major tools. If an organisation implements all these tools at a given time the effectiveness of TQM will be a question & the organisation will not be able to get the actual benefits/tastes of TQM. Rule-3: Add personal touches to a curry : Add organisation-specific elements to TQM. Add personal touches to a curry. These personal touches may include: tomato puree lemon juice tamarind pulp curd coconut milk amchur cooking medium : refined sunflower oil, or mustard oil, or coconut oil or desi ghee

A standard procedure lays down criteria for a mutton curry with provision for adding suitable personal touches to the curry. This suitable personal touch may be adding curd to the curry or adding tomato puree or even coconut milk to the curry. This personal touch is to be determined on the basis of the tastes of the persons who will eat the curry. TQM tools are very generic in nature. Standards such as ISO 9001 & 14001 specify generic requirements. These standards advise the organisation to add personal touches as specific elements while implementing these standards. These personal touches are to be added where these standards lay down the requirements with following adjectives: Appropriate (e.g., appropriate communication process) Needed (e.g., needed for product realisation) Necessary (e.g., necessary competence) Relevant (e.g., relevant personnel are made aware of changed requirements) - Suitable (e.g., use of suitable equipment) Two organisations may do the same business but the competence level of their people, the working procedures, the internal communication process in their organisation may be totally different. These are the personal touches in TQM. Rule - 4: Eat curry with fingers (not with spoon & fork) : Implement TQM by own people, not through consultants Curry is very much a finger food. How do you get the real taste of the curry unless you lick the fingers! Fingers represent the internal people, internal experts/consultants. External consultants such as spoons & forks do not transfer the real flavour of the curry to the tongue. So develop internal consultants. They know the pulse of the company. They understand the bottlenecks, they know the competence & awareness level of its people & the weak areas. These are the criteria for designing a system to be implemented in the company. Fingers should have direct contact with the tongue! Somebody compared eating curry with spoon & fork with making love with an interpreter! Can you make an effective love with the aid of an interpreter? To make love you need to speak in a language that is understood by both of you. For implementing TQM come in direct contact with your own people, talk to people in their language. Spoon & Forks do not interact with the tongue. So no spoon & fork! No interpreter!

Benefits of Curry
Curry's vital ingredients are spices. Ancient Sanskrit writings describe the value of spices as medicines and food preservatives. TQM is not only a requirement for business operation, it is essential for maintaining & improving the health of the organisation. It is an antibiotic!

Highly spiced food stimulates the liver which tends to become sluggish in tropical countries. So curry is a 'must' food for the tropical countries. When the progress of the organisation becomes sluggish it needs the highly spiced TQM to stimulate the vital organs of the organisations. Curry gives one the appetite that is so vital in the tropics. TQM gives the organisation the appetite for continual improvement which is vital for the future of the organisation, for gaining long term competitive advantage. Curry makes one sweat. Sweating is desired. Perspiration is good for the body. It cleans one out & cools one down! Implementation of TQM needs a lot of sweat. Hard work is one of the means to implement the TQM programmes. Hard work strengthens the organisation, purifies it & assures fortune & prosperity. <<<O>>>

Ayurvedic Treatment for TQM We all know, quality food is a major parameter for maintaining sound health. What is a quality food? Ayurveda defines Quality food is such food that is free from four doshas blemishes or faults. These four doshas are: Kaala dosha fault caused by time Ashuddha dosha fault caused by adulteration or impurities Swada dosha fault in taste & flavour Bhava dosha absence of right feeling TQM is a quality food to maintain sound organizational health. Sometimes TQM gets infested with the above doshas. Kaala dosha - is the blemish brought about by time. Anything that is stale is poison, says Ayurveda, and cannot, therefore, be consumed. Similarly, organizations or leaders who harp excessively on obsolete traditions and conventions bring harm to that group of people. TQM envisages continual improvement and so change is inevitable in a TQM environment. Just as food has to be fresh, so have to be ideas and practices of TQM in an organization.

Ashuddha dosha - is that of contamination and is brought about by lack of hygiene. Wrong people, faulty methods and lack of procedure also contaminate institutions. Like unhygienic food, such lack of hygiene within organizations can cause a rumble in the institutional tummy. In TQM language it is the nonconformity. Our concern must be to eliminate the nonconformities and their causes. Swada dosha - is the blemish in taste and flavour. Cuisine prepared with the finest material and served on a silver platter has to still pass the test of taste and flavour. The taste and flavour in an organization usually comes about by adding to it a generous pinch of justice, fairness and empathy. Transparency and openness increase the flavour of TQM. TQM can be enjoyed & implemented by all sections of organizations if it is made tasty & tangy. Bhava dosha blemish or absence of right feeling is the deadliest poison, says Ayurveda. The most sumptuous & delicious meal is a pure poison if not served with affection, grace and courtesy. Similarly, the best organization will diminish its people if it cannot generate the right balance of desirable emotions and sentiments. Employees with vitiated emotions can ultimately diminish an organization as well. Getting the right mixture of emotion is as inexplicable as a mothers total identification with her child, which the child reciprocates in equal measure. It is akin to bhakti, devotion, which again cannot be explained or quantified. It is like falling in love, something that remains out of the scope of reasoning. Simply put, it cannot be taught. In an organizational environment, the bhava is represented through total involvement of people, which is the major constituent of TQM recipe.

To eliminate the bhava dosha & to achieve involvement of people, the first step, as Ayurveda prescribes, would be to cleanse oneself of the defects in emotion. One will have to purge oneself of a whole series of bad emotions and introduce to oneself a whole set of good emotions.
The only way in which an emotion can be perfected at least in the organizational realm, is through conversation, communication. How much does it pay for a conversation ?

Conclusion
To get best value out of the TQM food, organizational approach, system & methodology must change with time. Organisations must eliminate the impurities present in the process, procedures & people. The management system must be made more flavourful & appetizing. By inculcating quality culture total commitment & involvement of people must be attained by the organizations.

This is how an organization can implement TQM. And Ayurveda shows us the way to do so.

Application of TQM in personal life

(A case study of the life of Laloo Prasad Yadav )

INTRODUCTION
To lead and operate a life successfully, it is necessary to direct and control it in a systematic and transparent manner. Success can result from implementing and maintaining a value/management system that is designed to continually improve performance. Managing a life encompasses value/ quality management amongst other disciplines. Here we will discuss the life of a common man who implementing some of the quality management principles became the King of a state. Yes, the man in our story is none other than Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Setting a challenging objective

In his village near Chapra, there once lived a powerful landlord Hathua Maharaj. He had a big house, a car and lots of land. He was Laloo's role model. Laloo was then cuddly little village boy. He set a real challenging objective To become another Hathua Maharaj when he grows up. Whatever being the planning or strategy, when Laloo became chief minister of Bihar in early '90s, he brought his mother to Patna and told her : Maa, your son has become bigger than Hathua Maharaj. He has a helicopter and a bigger house than him. Did you ever imagine this could happen?

Customer focus : Enhancing customer satisfaction

Laloo very well understands that Voters are his esteemed customers. So all his activities are voters-centric. He has identified his specific customers. With 15% of the voters being Yadavs his caste brethern and 14% being muslims, he had a steady vote base of 29%, almost enough to win elections with a factionridden opposition. So he adopts the strategy : Woo the muslims and come out as a man of success. The aim : To get the caste and communal arithmatic right. He understands and meets the requirements of voters of the state. Whatever being the strategy, the state shows economic progress. The Asian Development Research Institute in Patna points out that agricultural productivity of the state is high. The growth rate of deposits in nationalised banks is 25% (higher than the national average). In addition Bihar has the highest water table and assured irrigation facilities. This is for the educated mass. But the common mass do not vote on these issues. Laloo understood that the common mass wanted electoral empowerment so that they could look up to the 'Chaudhurys'. Laloo's success lies in the fact that his supporters are satisfied for being the products of electoral empowerment.

Involvement of people
Laloo makes people smile. And he makes them feel good. Once, at a rally in Patna, he asked the administration to arrange for food, water and blankets for all those who attended the rally. The move was a huge success. People were motivated. (But the inside story was somewhat different. When the massive bills were presented, they were promptly despatched to an NGO that had organised the rally. The NGO had to pay the bills, but Laloo walked away with the credit of giving food and blankets to the people.) Another incidence. In the village , Laloo plays the role of village pradhan. A group of fisher women saunter in. Laloo hollers: Idhar aao, bolo ki tumhare gaon mein koi tumhe pareshan karta hain? (Does anyone hassle you in your village?). One of them responds: Earlier, the upper castes used to take our fish away and harass the women. They don't dare to do now.

Laloo is successful in driving out fear from the minds of the common men. This is the major tool in involving people in social & economic activities of the state. This is what Deming, the Quality Guru has taught us Drive out fear & ensure involvement of people.

Timely Corrective Actions

Look at the recent incident of the MP and alleged ganglord MD Sahabuddin of Siwan. A one-time Laloo-pal, Sahabuddin is an influential Muslim icon. Laloo was under pressure to arrest the don. So he got the state DGP to run a campaign and finally nail him. Meanwhile to offset the impact of the loss on his Muslim vote bank, he did two things in quick succession. (i) He sent the VHP general secretary Pravin Togadia back to Delhi from Patna airport refusing to allow communalists & fascists(the two English words he knows best), into the state. (ii) And he took that landmark train ride to Pakistan, talked to pakistanis on aloo & paan, compared the size of aloo of Pindi bazaar (of Pakistan) with that of Patna. And he won the heart of Pakistanis (also his muslim voters). The muslim voters forgot the arrest of Sahabuddin.

Conclusion
Laloo is well on the path of TQM. He is so confident of this effort & success that he framed & communicated a slogan: Jab tak rahega samosa mein aloo, tab tak rahega Bihar mein Laloo. In fact this is his vision or policy statement of his life !! ( Note : The facts & figures mentioned in this article are collected from reputed newspapers ) [[|]]