M2A3 -What Fits Best?

7.1 Introduce the concept of the search for excellence and examine its relationship to the function of controlling.
Answer: To ensure Total Quality Management almost all organizations are in search for excellence. However, such philosophy is arbitrary, and many organizations fail to identify or categorize qualities that define “excellence.” Excellence has been defined with the perspective of people (who renders the service), care of customers exhibits constant innovation and leadership qualities. Excellence can be assessed by appraising the values, beliefs, norms, behavioral patterns and operational style of an individual. Parameters of excellence can be helpful in fixing the controlling process in an organization. This means “excellence” that is an intangible attribute of a person may be tallied against the controlling mechanisms needed in an organization for its success. Such compatibility helps to deploy suitable individuals for specific controlling mechanisms based on their behavioral pattern and inherent skills/values that will drive the success of a business.
7.2 Relate controlling to directing in an essential cycle that affords ongoing attention to follow-up and correction.
Answer: Controlling in a business organization refers to the managerial functions like planning, organizing, staffing and directing a process. Such functions help to identify the errors occurring in a business process and addressing such errors with corrective actions so that the deviations from laid standards are minimal.

Controlling also helps to reach the stated goals and the desired quality of a process or service of an organization. Presently controlling also seeks to predict and foresee actions ahead of time. Controlling can be achieved by setting the standards, measuring the performance against such standards and inculcation of corrective actions to reach the stated standards.
7.3 Introduce the concept of Six Sigma strategies and describe its place in the management process.
Answer: Various quality control tools are introduced in business and management settings to ensure the production and productivity of an operational process. Six Sigma is such a set of techniques which ensures process and production improvement. The approach seeks to improve the quality of an output of a process through identification of defects or non-productive practices and removes the causes of such defects or non-productive practices and minimizes the variability in manufacturing or other output processes. Such tools ensure the quality of business processes in a sustainable way. The Six Sigma approach uses a set of quality management methods based on statistical principle and creates an infrastructure of people within the organization who are deployed various roles to ensure the implementation of Six Sigma process in a particular business unit. The methodology is applied in two variants. One is called DMAIC while another one is DMADV. DMAIC stands for Define, measure, analyze, improve and control. Define means to identify the need for the system like the voice of the customer or project goals. The measure means to quantify the key aspects of a process with relevant data. Analyze means to appraise the data on the ground of cause-and-effect relationship with the need of business or voice of the customer. Improvement ensures removal of artifacts in the process that erodes voice of the customer or detrimental factors in the operational process and ensures inculcation of positive factors. Controls indicate the checks and feedbacks that are incorporated into the system to prevent any deviations in the delivery process. DMADV means Define ( goals of customers/business), Measure and identification of features which ensures product or process capability, Analyze ( current approach and redesigning strategies), Design ( an improved strategy) and Verify ( how the new design or new product or new business model runs).
7.4 Introduce the concept of benchmarking and describe its place in the management process
Answer: To ensure a continuous process improvement program, benchmarking is the ideal and systematic approach that measures the performance of an organization’s own products or processes against the ones which are recognized as the successful ones in the industry. Thus benchmarking can involve analysis of a competitor’s strategy or it may involve the successful strategy of the same organization in a different context that was helpful in achieving success. The information collected from a company’s practices and processes in relationship to the best-recognized practices and processes helps a company to formulate strategies that translates into success or increased productivity. Thus benchmarking is an important management tool that helps in process improvement of an organization. It also helps as an internal learning and sharing tool between employees for motivating them for better productivity. Benchmarking is a four-step process that involves planning, analysis, integration, and action. Planning describes the variable that needs to be benchmarked (for example achieving quality sales) , analysis describes the appraisal and evaluation of factors leading to such successes, integration describes the skill sets and qualities needed to achieve or repeat the successes and finally action indicates the implementation of skills in line with planning and analysis to achieve the final goal or success.