Управление качеством в международных корпорациях. Практикум на английском языке

Practical training

technologies. For example, TDK is striving for 24-hour, no assisted, flexible circuit card manufacturing using state-of-the-art high-density surface mounting techniques and integrated multifunction composite chips. It has developed true microcircuit miniaturization technologies that integrate 33 active and passive components on one chip. This will reduce the number of components required by customers during board assembly, thereby reducing potential assembly defects.

In addition, the application of materials and process know-how provides a fundamental competitive advantage in manufacturing products with improved quality characteristics. Nitto Denko, for example, has developed low-dust pellets for use in molding compounds. Ibiden has developed an epoxy hardener to enhance peel strength, thus improving reliability of its plating technology. The new process reduces cracking in the high-stress areas of small vias. Ibiden also uses epoxy dielectric for cost reduction and enhanced thermal conductivity of its MCM-D substrate. At the time of the JTEC visit, the company was also attempting to reduce solder resist height in an effort to improve the quality and ease of additive board assembly. It believes that a product with a resist 20 mils higher than the copper trace can eliminate solder bridging. Sony developed adhesive bonding technologies in order to improve the reliability and automation of its optical pickup head assembly. It set the parameters for surface preparation, bonding agents, and process controls. Sony used light ray cleaning to improve surface wettability and selected nine different bonding agents for joining various components in the pickup head. It now produces some 60% of the world’s optical pickup assemblies. The continuous move to miniaturization will keep the pressure on Japanese firms to further develop both their materials and process capabilities.

Tasks

1.Analyze the characteristics of Japanese quality manage men. Discuss it in group.

2.Name the differences and similarities of a quality management in Japan and Russia.

3.Can we use Japanese quality management in Russian organizations? Argue it.

4.Better way for the enterprise is in the manufacture of quality or quantity? Explain your opinion.

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Question

1.How do you understand the «physics of failure»?

2.What infrastructure usually in Japanese firm are?

3.What kind of training using Nippondenso?

References

1.Garvin David A. Managing Quality: The Strategic and Competitive Edge. Free Press, 2014.

2.Lee P. M. and Lim B. C. “Quality Management in Singapore. Selected Asian Countries” EC Management Centre, Brunei, unpublished. 2013.

3.Nakamura M. and Osman-Gani A. A. «The Evolution of Quality Management Practices in Thailand. Selected Asian Countries» – EC Management Centre, Brunei, unpublished. 2012.

4.Yoshio Kondo Hoshin kanri – a participative way of quality management in Japan», The TQM Magazine, Vol. 10 Iss: 6, pp. 425–

431.2014.

5.John Zhuang Yang «The Japanese Approach to Quality Management – A Human Resource Perspective», Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 7 Iss: 3, pp. 44–64. 2013.

18. QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN CHINA

The purpose of this practice – to discuss and fix bases of quality management, its main principles in China.

This practice will allow creating competences PK-3: possession of skills of the strategic analysis, development and implementation of strategy of the organization aimed at providing competitiveness; and PK-5: ability to analyze interrelations between functional strategy of the companies for the purpose of preparation of the balanced administrative decisions and also to acquire the following knowledge and abilities:

–knowledge of quality management bases in China;

–understandingofanorderofitsimplementationinthecompanies’ activity;

–ability to define, what elements quality management in China consist in and how to use them to develop the company and economy.

Relevance of practice consists in necessity to know Chinese

experience of quality management.

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Theoretical part

After the adoption of the open market policy by the Chinese Government in the late ‘70, the awareness of the importance of quality among Chinese companies has been rising gradually. On one hand, the Chinese Government has laid down some policies and regulations to emphasize and promote the importance of quality and quality management. High percentages of state-owned enterprises have started to implement modern quality management or TQM since the early 1980s. On the other, the development of market economy has intensified competitive pressures, which in turns has created a strong driving force in implementing TQM.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the current status of quality management in Mainland China and gives some suggestions in achieving TQM. Section 2 gives an overview of the existing situation of quality management in China. The problems encountered and other important issues concerning quality management in China are outlined. Since we believe that the historical development of quality control in the Chinese history had big influences on today’s quality management, in Section 3, we discuss different stages of development of quality management starting from the ‘70s in. The influence of the Chinese culture in quality management is analyzed in Section 4. The market forces are discussed in Section 5. In the final Section, we have given some recommendations in accomplishing TQM in China.

This study begins with a literature review on issues related to quality improvement/ management in Mainland China. The materials that we have gone through cover different areas such as China’s ancient history of managing quality, TQM application in China, culture and the problems of Chinese management, worker participation and motivation, ISO 9000,Asian power, economic reform, etc. From these materials, we could draw a picture of the current status of quality management in China and understand the causes of the current situation.

After getting enough background information about the current status of quality management in Mainland China, site visits in Shanghai and Guangdong were arranged to get in-depth information through observations, informal discussions and talks with front-line employees.

Starting from the late ‘70, the Chinese Government has spent a lot of effort in promoting quality management. Policies and regulations

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were passed to put pressures on producers to pay more attention to their product quality. Under the pressures of the government, the implementation rate of TQM in China is unexpectedly high, especially in state-owned enterprises. A survey (Yu, Cochran and Spencer 1998) reported that 96 % of the state-owned enterprises claimed that they had implemented TQM. At the same time, the fierce competition arising from market economy makes the managers take TQM in their enterprises more voluntarily. Generally speaking, the senior management’s commitment in improving quality is high. However, the quality of products from China is still undesirable.

Obviously,therearealotofobstaclesandproblemsintheprocess of deployment of modern quality management or TQM in China.

The concept of modern quality management was not properly promoted. Chinese managers and workers do not have a good understanding of modern quality management principles. There are different versions of quality management concept in different parts of the country. Some managers still cannot distinguish between quality control and quality management.

The top-down approach in implementing the quality management system causes a lot of problems.At the country level, the government gives directions to force enterprises to implement TQM. Insides the enterprises, the policy and regulations are also implemented from the top to the middle and bottom levels of the management and finally reached every employee. The enterprises are forcing the employees to participate instead of encouraging them to get involved. Since the employees only take it as another order from the above, they were not enthusiastic. This leads to low participation. Such authoritarian approach creates more fears at the workplace, which further lessen employee participation.

The low employee participation is not just caused by the topdown implementation approach. The Chinese society has historically been dominated by respect for age and hierarchy of authority. The large power distance in China makes it very difficult to implement the participatory management model. Workers would rather follow orders instead of giving suggestions.

Due to the lack of training resources, the training provided on qualitymanagementisnotcomprehensiveenoughtocoveremployees at different levels. Training provided to bottom-line employees is very limited. No training on statistical control, problem solving skills, leadership abilities is given to bottom-line employees.

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Although the Chinese government has laid down policies and regulations about improving quality for enterprises to follow, there is a lack of actual government support in terms of funding, technologies and other resources. Also, no recognition is given to the enterprises with significant quality achievement. The concept of earning quick money, which is very popular among people in Mainland China, is another obstacle in improving quality.In order to gain the highest profit in the shortest time, people would rather sacrifice high quality for higher productivity and cheaper price.

Traditionally, businesses award contracts based on connection instead of the quality of products. It seriously destroys the incentives of improving quality. The «harmonious» culture of the Chinese is also a hindrance to treating quality seriously.

Chinaisoneoftheearliestnationstohavedevelopedacivilization. In our more than 5,000 years of history, we could trace the first Chinese quality system or quality control system back to Shang and Zhou Dynasties (17century and 18century B.C.) The new China has, since 1949, developed its quality management along with the souci– political-economic development in China. In the current section, we outline the development of quality management in China from a historical perspective. From 1949 up to the present, we can divide quality management development into five stages, viz., quantity age, Dark Age, experimental stage, promotion stage and strengthening stage.

In 1949, the communists took over the Mainland China and established a socialist society, which adopted a centrally planned economy. Under the centrally planned economy, the state set production goals and targets for the enterprises, allocated resources and raw materials to them, laid down broad policies and guidelines to be followed in their operations and management, and distributed or marketed their output. The ultimate goal of enterprise managers was to produce enough products to meet the goals set by the state. Managers did not need to take care of the quality of products. As long as they produced, the state would buy without taking quality consideration seriously.

The awareness of quality concern was typified by the formation of the quality control research group in 1957. The group introduced quality production education and statistical process control (SPC). The application of SPC was limited to the machine and apparel

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industries. SPC was never integrated with the management systems during those years. In the early 1960s, China put forward a quality management model namely, «two participations, one reform, threewaycombinations»whichwasbasedonthephilosophyofcooperative relationships among managers, technicians, and workers. A new system combining self-inspection, mutual inspection, and line inspection was developed. Line workers were encouraged to create teams to discuss problems related to product quality.

It is noted that a centrally planned economy was not compatible with product quality. The centrally planned economy shielded people from competition and was concerned with meeting production targets rather than satisfying customers. Quality management operated in this direction led to low motivation of staff toward quality improvement.

Quality management has undergone several stages and has become a more concern among enterprises in China. From nonexistence to gathering momentum, quality management has gained a legal status that it deserved. The battle is not, nevertheless, over. We reckoned that there were a lot of challenges at best or a lot of shortcomingsatworst.Despitethatthegovernmenthasplacedstrong emphasis on quality management and enacted laws to force its way into the enterprises, the effect brought forth by quality management is not particularly exciting. We might describe quality management in China with the idiom, «the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak». The challenges of quality management in China lie more in the culture and the economic system, which will be discussed in the following section.

Successful quality management requires everybody in the organization have a mindset of quality. In addition to the influence of historical, political and ideological background which shapes the behavior of workers in China, the long history of the Chinese culture also plays an important role in the development of quality management in China.

Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Workers’ Congress has mandated workers’ participation in setting rewards, penalty and other regulations in relation to the interests of workers. The socialist ideals, however, have not changed the well-entrenched traditional Chinese value of respect for the senior, the aged and the hierarchy of authority. The deference to and dependence on power and authority distinguish Chinese culture from

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that in the Western world where rules are repeatedly debated and challenged. The large power distance of Chinese culture discourages the participatory management philosophy that underpins the Western tenets of quality management. In the Chinese culture, it is very difficult to build a «bottom-up» management system. For example, the quality drive in China has very much been government mandated. Organizations prepare corresponding policies that are then enforced using systems of reward and/or penalty. The autocratic cultural also goes again Deming’s belief that fears and quotas should be removed from the management system and joy should be returned to the workplace. It is also not surprising that few if any critique is offered by the frontline workers when quality plans are introduced by the management, even though the system is subsequently, privately, criticized in the implementation stage by the workers. The management then feels alienated and labels the criticism.

The Chinese culture is considered strong on collectivism and is group-oriented (Hofstede 1994; Fernandex et al. 1997). Strong peer pressure discourages education in the areas of leadership, entrepreneur and experimentation. The Chinese value «face» predominates, especially with the authority and seniors in autocratic organizations, while the basic tools of quality management system such as work team, quality circle and statistical quality control are neglected. In the interest of face saving, the front liners are reluctant to point out mistakes. Chinese managers are unwilling to accept mistakes, especially in front of peers or seniors.

Quality management systems emphasize documentation and traceability. The systems are formally documented by way of procedures; they are also unofficially defined by the culture and shared values of the organization. On the other hand, Chinese culture has been praised as «flexible», because it has adapted to and survived the four thousand years of changes in the environment. This «flexibility» is often manifested in organization when workers ask for «special» consideration due to «special» situation or need. Rules and procedures are habitually requested to be bent or by-passed.

Theabovementionedcultureofcollectivism,face-saving,deference and autocracy is at the very heart of the guan xi so treasured by the Chinese. The western quality management system as «modified» by Chinese culture is, instead of «following the book», tailored and curtailed in accordance with «special» considerations, individual

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judgment and guan xi to produce «good enough», albeit random, outcome. In addition to problems resulting from non-conformity, the «flexibility» hinders continual improvement of the existing systems because the modifications and results are undocumented. We regard this Chinese culture as the biggest impediment to the long-term development of quality management in China.

However, there are still some cultural characteristics that are favorable for the success of quality management in China. The collective and group oriented aspects in the Chinese culture facilitate the development of quality management in China. Once shared beliefs in value of quality and team participation are developed in the workplace, peer group pressure will ensure that the quality crusade will continue.

In the past, China followed a centrally planned economy. The state set the production goal and targets, allocated resources, laid down management policies and guidelines. The managers’ role was to meet the production targets in terms of quantities. Quality was not a concern with managers. However, with the south visit of Deng, China has officially moved from a state-controlled economy to a market economy. Private enterprises emerged to compete against state-owned industries. Increased competition has woken the industries to the importance of quality to sustain and dominate the market. The concept of quality management is a result of the market economy. China has taken an aggressive role to get into the international business arena. One of the targets China has been striving to achieve is to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO). As a condition for successful entry, China has been forced to remove tariffs for foreign competitors. Foreign competition has put great pressure on local industries.The quality of most foreign goods is more superior to local products and many of these foreign goods quickly take up a sizeable market. This is a great threat to local industries. To survive and flourish, they must improve the quality of their products. China’s open door policy has facilitated the development of quality management. With a population of 1.1 billion and a rapidly growing middle class bent on consumption, China is an attractive market to many companies in the Western world as well as those in Asia such as Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Her open door policy and pursuit of a market economy have encouraged a lot of foreign companies to set up business in China. Many of these companies partner with

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local companies to set up joint ventures. In most cases, the foreign companies will bring in not only the high technologies but also their quality management practices and standard requirements. This serves to reinforce the concept of quality management among local managers.

China’s export has grown tremendously in the past decade. Foreign trade has been a great source of income for China. To maintain this income source, China has to compile with the quality standard laid down by the foreign markets. In most of these markets, ISO 9000 is the required standard. This is another external factor that speeds up the practice of quality management in China.

Instead of just laying down policies and regulations, the government should provide more support, such as financial support for R&D, implementation of quality improvement, investment in human resources training and education, and recognition of quality achievements through national awards. Organizations should be allowed to repeatedly win the awards for superior and continuously quality management achievements. Moreover, the government should continuously monitor the role of technology support as an enabler of quality improvement and business process reengineering.

It is recommended that the organizations should adopt a contingent approaches. The scope and pace of quality management improvement should be adjusted according to the organizational goals and strategies, resources available, and the market positioning of the organization. A Plan–Do–Check–Act improvement cycle is suggested. Organizations should constantly review the market requirements – how appropriate are the existing processes to provide products and services for the market.

The appraisal and reward systems should be designed to align the goals of workers with the organizational drive to continually improve quality. A well design reward system should reduce jobhopping by managers, another «deadly disease» identified by Deming. Investments in the use of statistical tools such as SQC should be promoted in order to avoid making decision with little or no consideration given to what is not known or cannot be known.

The emphasis on quality is part of the Japanese culture. The concept of quality is achieved through education. It is a long process but it has brought Japan great success in quality management. The quality concept should be built in our education. We should enhance

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Chinese culture with a personal dedication to quality. Young people should be taught to be serious about the things they do and learn to deliver quality work.

Case: China’s Manufacturers

and the Quality Control Conundrum

ConsumersinChinaarealltoofamiliarwiththerealitiesofshopping locally. In the kingdom of «caveat emptor», the buyer who doesn’t beware faces a daily gamut of frustration and disappointment with substandard purchases – clothes unraveling in the first wash, lids not fittingpotsandpans,andkitchengadgetsexplodingassoonasthey’re switched on are as frequent as the scandals involving substandard, and often toxic, food and medicines. Call it one of the paradoxes of modern industry: Countless consumer goods multinationals have built global empires by contracting out manufacturing to partners in China, generally without cutting corners or letting quality standards slip. Yet for one reason or another, Chinese firms aren’t replicating that success at home. Shaking off the shackles of low-quality manufacturing is a mammoth challenge for many. But as China’s once formidable cost advantage shrink sand the country aims to reduce its reliance on exports, the need to address the issue is intensifying by producing more products that can collectively escalate the country up the «value chain» of manufacturing.

«It is happening very slowly, but it is happening», says Michael Clendenin, managing director of Red Tech Advisors, a Shanghaibased consumer technology research and consulting company. «For every one Chinese company that is improving (product quality), there are probably 10 out there that are still cutting corners and two [other] new companies are coming into the market by cutting more corners».

In 2007, the world woke up to what Chinese consumers had long contended with, when a number of Western multinationals, including toymaker Mattel, were forced to recalls all sorts of tainted or faulty China-made products. While regulators tightened policies and many corporate risk managers swung into action as a result, there is still no getting away from the fact that «some Chinese industries suffer quality problems – especially in food, where stories of contaminated or adulterated foodstuffs simply do not go away, despite numerous government initiatives to correct the problem», says Wharton management professor Marshall W. Meyer.

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