QUALITY ASSURANCE AND SELF-ASSESSMENT FOR CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

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CHAPTER 2 QUALITY ASSURANCE AND SELF-ASSESSMENT QUALITY ASSURANCE AND SELF-ASSESSMENT FOR FOR CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Companies increasingly have to face competition and accept that more choices are available to clients who, in their search for value for money, are assiduous in seeking goods and services with better quality and at a more competitive price (Bounds, Yorks, Adams & Ranney 1994:5). In this researcher’s view the statement is still relevant today. Increased global competition and improved communications have lead to greater customer expectation (Watson 2002:2). In a global society with its increased international competition, quality has become the key to having a competitive edge. Quality is no longer confined to the quality of a product or a service. It applies to delivery, administration, customer service, and all other aspects of company activities. Quality encompasses all the ways in which a company meets the needs and expectations of its financial stakeholders, its customers, and the community in which it operates (Tan 2002:165)
Lawler (1995:52) describes the significance of global competition in the business environment of the 1990s when stating:
Many businesses have become global and as a result, success requires much higher levels of performance in three areas: the quality of goods and services produced, the cost at which they are produced, and the speed with which the producers innovate and get new products and services to the market.
Rapidly advancing technological developments have also greatly influenced competition for a market share (Bounds et al. 1994:5). Pfeffer (1994) already identified product and process technology as traditional bases of competitive success. Technology, especially information technology, has in many cases led to businesses gaining a competitive advantage by making changes to their systems for managing performance, their manufacturing process or the service delivery processes.
Williams (2002:7-8) adds that government policies also impact on organisations in search of new markets. Especially in the public sector, legislative changes have already affected service provision and will continue to do so.
The factors mentioned above have influenced management theories and movements. Performance management has seen the introduction of the search for excellence movement and the concern for quality. These approaches have reshaped the way in which we think about performance because of the changes to manufacturing and service delivery processes that have resulted (Williams 2002:5).
The focus on excellence and quality promotes and supposedly ensures continuous organisational performance improvement. Globally, quality or the search for excellence has emerged as an important issue, and organisations have searched for excellence models for institutional self-assessment approaches to remain competitive in this changing global market.
Research sub-problem 1 (see section 1.3.2.2) questions how appropriate and useful is a TQM approach with its concepts, values, methodologies and tools that originated within the private sector, when conducting organisational self-assessment in supporting continuous performance improvement in ETD units in the SANDF. In order to address the issues mentioned in this sub-problem, this chapter will briefly describe the concept quality and the terms TQM and quality assurance, and then continue by discussing self-assessment practices that could be implemented to improve organisational performance. Finally, the role of group decision-making in the assessment of performance will be investigated to illustrate some possible threats, such as groupthink or the dominance by authoritative figures, to using consensus as the accepted norm for quality decision-making. This chapter aims to investigate the role and function of organisational self-assessment as element of a TQM approach and as a component of an organisation’s continuous performance improvement strategy.

TERMINOLOGY

 An Exposition of Quality

 Preface

The concept quality is value-laden and usually subjectively associated with that which is good and worthwhile (Tight 1996:125). In the introduction to this chapter it was stated that this concept has become a central feature of organisational performance in recent years and the focus on and management of quality have become widespread in organisations in both the private and public sector.

Definitions

Many definitions of quality, from different approaches or views, could be quoted and most of these definitions are based on the continuous conformation to customers’ or clients’ expectations of the product or services (Cascio 1995:18).
Oakland (2003:4) believes that quality is simply meeting the customer requirements, and he summarises the views of experts by listing the following:
Juran called quality “Fitness for purpose or use”.
Deming said, “Quality should be aimed at the needs of the consumer, present and future”.
Feigenbaum believed that quality is, “The total composite product and service characteristics of marketing, engineering, manufacture and maintenance through which the product and service in use will meet the expectation by the customer”.
For Crosby quality was “Conformance to requirements”
Gatfield, Barker and Graham (1999:239) state that there are two main schools of thought in determining quality, which comprise the supply-side (managerialist approach), and the demand-side (consumer approach).
Cronje, Du Toit and Motlatla (2000:386) believe that managers define quality in terms of what they believe clients expect of a particular service, while clients see quality in terms of their own perception of the service. Organisations should therefore endeavour to eliminate the gap between what they expect and what the clients perceive as quality. They should attempt to produce services that conform to what they promise to deliver. Crosby (1988:219) says that the client must believe that the provider is sincere in its actions and reliable, trustworthy and credible in delivering the requested service.
The nature of the concept of quality, however, remains open to several interpretations. When addressing the alternatives and implications in defining quality, Reeves and Bednar (1994:437) identify the following four main types of definition, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Quality defined as Excellence. This view has strong marketing and human resource benefits and is universally recognisable as an indicator of uncompromising standards and high achievement. It however provides little practical guidance to practitioners, is difficult to measure and the attributes of excellence may change dramatically and rapidly.
Quality defined as Value. If quality is defined as value, multiple attributes of a product or service like excellence, price and durability, are included and organisations are forced to consider both their internal cost implications to conform to specifications as well as how the external expectations of the clients are met. Different price/quality bundles like a dinner at a five-star restaurant or a hamburger at the local café will be perceived in the marketplace. Although it allows for comparisons across a wide field of products and services, it is difficult to determine the components of an individual’s subjective value judgement. Individuals will use different components as well as assign different weights to each component, when making their value judgments. For these reasons it is clear that quality and value should be seen as different constructs.
Quality defined as Conformance to specifications. This view emphasises precise measurement and leads to increased efficiency that is necessary for a global strategy. It should force disaggregating of consumer needs and is therefore the most appropriate definition for many customers. This approach to quality, however, is often inappropriate for services, internally focused and potentially reduces organisational adaptability as specifications may quickly change in the rapidly changing markets.
Quality defined as Meeting and/or exceeding expectations. This all-encompassing approach to quality enhances evaluation from the customer’s perspective, is applicable across industries and is responsive to market changes. It is however also the most complex definition as it is difficult to measure. As customers may not know their expectations, it could lead to different individual reactions. As pre-purchase attitudes affect subsequent judgments, the short-term and long-term evaluations may differ. It could also lead to confusing customer service and customer satisfaction.
The researcher endorses the view of Reeves and Bednar (1994:423), who maintain that the last of the four definitions is the most prevalent, and still relevant today.

 Discussion

Many of the definitions of quality include the customer. Indeed, the development of a customer perspective has come about hand in hand with the rise in the importance of quality. Definitions of quality have broadened over time and the application of the term has extended from manufacturing to service, from being concerned narrowly with attributes of the product or service, (the what of quality) to include the how of quality, and from internally (company) defined attributes to customer perspective (Williams 2002:55-56). 2.2.1.4 Quality in the South African ETD Environment.
The models for quality in education were adopted from those of successful private companies, thus the mechanisms for ensuring quality in education and training were largely taken, with little adaptation, from the manufacturing industry (Tight 1996:123-124).
The SAQA Act (South Africa 1995) and the National Education Policy Act (South Africa 1996), among others, are explicit about the proposed orientation to quality within the South African education and training context. At the heart of this orientation is the concept of transformation (SAQA 2001a:17). This expression of transformation is consistent with one of the core components of Svensson’s TQM model (2004:25). The SAQA orientation to quality is generally holistic and focuses on processes that deepen democracy, flexibility within the system and client/learner-centredness (SAQA 2001a:18). For this reason SAQA has outlined quality indicators such as learner-centredness, relevance, democratic ways of operating, flexibility within the system, increasing access, transparency, accountability, recognition of prior learning and critical learning and teaching styles as SAQA’s parameters of quality (SAQA 2001a:19).

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTORY ORIENTATION
1.1 BACKGROUND
1.2 INTRODUCTION
1.3 DEMARCATION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.4 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
1.5 MOTIVATION FOR RESEARCH
1.6 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
1.7 KEY CONCEPTS
1.8 CHAPTER DEMARCATION
1.9 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 2 QUALITY ASSURANCE AND SELF-ASSESSMENT FOR CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 TERMINOLOGY
2.3 SELF-ASSESSMENT PRACTICES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCES
2.4 SUMMATIVE REMARKS
CHAPTER 3 QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE AWARDS AS FRAMEWORKS FOR SELFASSESSMENT AND CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 AIM AND SCOPE OF THE QUALITY AWARD OVERVIEW
3.3 INTERNATIONAL QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE MODELS AND AWARDS.
3.4 THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXCELLENCE AWARD
3.5 SUMMATIVE REMARKS
3.6 CONCLUSIONS
CHAPTER 4 EDUCATION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 ORIENTATION
4.3 THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE’S ROLE IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN A DEMOCRACY
4.4 THE TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION, TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE
4.5 A NEW HUMAN RESOURCES STRATEGY FOR DEFENCE ACT PERSONNEL IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE AND ITS MPACT ON ETD
4.6 THE SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE IN EDUCATION TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE DOD
4.7 THE ROLE OF ETD IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE’S CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME
4.8 OVERARCHING POLICY FOR EDUCATION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE DOD
4.9 SUMMARY
4.10 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 5 ORGANISATIONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT IN A TRAINING UNIT AS PART OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE’S CONTINUOUS ERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME – A CASE STUDY
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 THE CASE STUDY AS RESEARCH STRATEGY
5.3 RESEARCH DESIGN
5.4 STAGE ONE: THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXCELLENCE FOUNDATION’S SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE AS METHOD OF SELF-ASSESSMENT FOR A TRAINING UNIT IN THE SANDF
5.5 INTERVENTION: CUSTOMISING THE SAEF SELFASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE FOR USE IN TRAINING UNITS WITHIN THE SANDF
5.6 STAGE TWO: TESTING A CUSTOMISED SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE FOR USE IN TRAINING UNITS WITHIN THE* SANDF
5.7 STAGE THREE: CONDUCTING A SELF-ASSESSMENT WORKSHOP
5.8 STAGE FOUR: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME
5.9 COMPILING AN ETD QUALITY REVIEW PACKAGE FOR USE IN TRAINING UNITS WITHIN THE SANDF
5.10 SUMMATIVE REMARKS
CHAPTER 6 SYNTHESIS OF THE STUDY
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 SUMMARY
6.3 CONCLUSIONS
6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
6.5 CONCLUDING REMARKS
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