Quality Improvement Teams

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Quality Improvement Teams

• Many Quality leaders encourage the use of teams
  to improve processes in the workplace.

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Reasons for forming teams

• The reasons for forming teams are numerous.
• The team that owns the process should be involved
  in its improvement.
• continuous improvement of processes at the work
  team level results in lasting and sustained
  performance improvement.

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Reasons for forming teams

• Involvement of the process owners and key
  stakeholders, ensures proper consultation and
  communication during the change lifecycle.
• Many heads are better than one. A well-balanced
  team has members who have complementary skills.
  Project effectiveness is increased by this
  diversity.

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Reasons for forming teams

• Many hands make light work. During a process
  improvement project there are many tasks to be
  completed. Sharing the workload increases project
  efficiency.

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Reasons for forming teams

• The ripple effect means that by involving
  employees in improvement projects, the
  organisation's continuous improvement strategy is
  spread through involvement in team level
  projects.
• The Quality Improvement Team members participate
  in decision-making and gain new skills.

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Sound task processes

• a clear mission and well-defined, achievable
  goals
• an improvement plan which identifies the advice,
  assistance, training and resources the team may
  require
• shared roles such as minute-taker, chairperson
• well developed problem solving skills
• well defined decision-making procedures based on
  data analysis
• sound record keeping

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Sound team processes

• clear ground rules or expectations of team
  members
• honest and open communication
• balanced power and participation among team
  members
• a climate of trust

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Sound team processes

• Identify the team objectives and the timeframe
  for project completion.
• Identify the available resources.
• Select a team leader.
• Select the team members.
• Involve people who are affected by the process
  either as team members or as customers.
• Give the team time to meet and do the extra work
  required by the project.
• Provide training to team members.

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Responsibilities for project administration

• preparing the project brief
• scheduling team meetings
• facilitating team meetings
• keeping records
• co-ordinating or preparing the final project
  report
• publicising the team achievements.

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Responsibilities for the team

• establishing team rapport
• focusing the team on an agreed mission
• determining the roles of team members
• setting team goals
• getting team member involvement
• identifying the training needs of team members
• encouraging open communication among team
  members.

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Team members responsibilities

• attend all team meetings
• speak up in meetings
• respect the opinions of other team members
• complete all assigned tasks
• contribute 100 to the project.

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Management commitment to Total Quality
Management.

• Management should encourage a culture where
• quality is everyone's responsibility and
  improvement opportunities can be identified by
  all employees
• Quality Improvement Teams are empowered to
  investigate and solve problems in the processes
  they own because the people doing the work know
  it best
• decisions are based on the analysis of data.

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Management Responsibility to

• see that teams are trained well and given
  adequate resources
• put bi-directional communication processes in
  place so that teams are not isolated
• ensure that there is a structure in place to
  support the implementation of standardised
  processes
• recognise and reward team members for their
  achievements

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Team members training

• The Team Leader must ensure that team members are
  provided with training in both team processes and
  continuous improvement techniques and tools.
• Technical skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Administrative skills

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Skills

• Technical skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Administrative skills

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The Quality Tools Revisited

• Run charts
• Control charts
• Brainstorming

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Control of variation

• Dr Edwards Deming made the consistent point that
  all process outcomes are subject to variation.
• In other words, all processes are subject to
  change and inconsistency. If we aim for
  consistent quality in the goods and services we
  produce, then it is this variation we must aim to
  control. Our first step is to determine the
  causes of variation. The corrective action we
  take will be dependent on the type of variation

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Causes of variation

• Special cause variation relates to a specific
  location, person or time. Common cause
  variation is inherent in the process itself and
  is common to the process in operation. Common
  causes are more difficult to control than special
  causes. To change them requires a change in
  process, or new systems, equipment, training of
  personnel and so on. A process is in control or
  stable when it is free of all special causes of
  variation.

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Common causes

• The probable distribution of data subject to
  common causes takes the shape of a bell curve.

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Run charts

• A run chart is a simple line graph used to
  measure the performance of one or more processes
  over a period of time

• It provides the opportunity to compare a process
  before and after an improvement solution has been
  put in place.

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Control charts

• A run chart does not tell you whether a process
  is in control.
• To find that out, you need a control chart where
  upper and lower process control limits are
  defined.
• These control limits are placed at the points
  where 99.73 of measures will fall in a process
  subject to normal variation.
• Variation outside these limits can be said to be
  due to special causes.

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Brainstorming

• Brainstorming is a creative tool, which is useful
  for
• identifying process problems
• identifying possible causes of process problems
• suggesting possible solutions

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Brainstorming

• It makes effective use of the brain capacity of
  team members.
• Rather than using a step by step analytical
  process, brainstorming encourages team members to
  respond spontaneously to a stimulus without
  critical thought.
• It is best for generating lots of ideas for later
  investigation, clarification and evaluation.

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PDCA Cycle

• PLAN
• DO
• CHECK
• ACT

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Trilogy for Quality Improvement

• Juran's Trilogy for Quality improvement included
  
• Quality Planning
• Quality Improvement
• Quality Control

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Quality Improvement

• Quality Planning
• Quality Improvement
• Quality Control

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Gembakaizen and Kaizen

• Kaizen is Japanese for gradual, orderly and
  continuous improvement.
• Developed by Masaaki Imai, chairman of the
  Cambridge Corporation, the emphasis of Kaizen is
  small incremental changes rather than the big
  step changes
• Gembakaizen, refers to continuous improvement on
  the shop floor.
• This is "the place where the real work is done",
  and therefore, the place where improvement should
  begin.

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The End