Small business Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Small business - Research Paper Example Quality assurance, in its broadest sense, is also any action taken to prevent quality problems from occurring. In practice, this means devising systems for carrying out tasks which directly affect product quality (Anon., 2011). B. At least two systems associated with the management of quality. Describe their relationships, limitations and applications. There are two popular systems associated with the management of quality that I am aware of, they are Kaizen and Total Quality Management or TQM. Kaizen is a Japanese Quality Assurance system of continuous improvement in quality, technology, processes, company culture, productivity, safety and leadership. It is a system that involves every employee - from upper management to the cleaning crew. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a month or once a year activity. It is continuous. Japanese companies, such as Toyota and Canon, a total of 60 to 70 suggestions per employ ee per year are written down, shared and implemented (Anon., 2011). TQM on the other hand is a comprehensive and structured approach to organizational management that seeks to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing refinements in response to continuous feedback (Anon., 2011). TQM requirements may be defined separately for a particular organization or may be in adherence to established standards, such as the International Organization for Standardization's  ISO 9000  series. TQM can be applied. At its core, Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services and the culture in which they work (Anon., 2011). C. The main principles that should be included in quality management systems. This should include a systematic approach; documentation of procedures, standards and specifications; innovation; review and audit; measurement and evaluation. Since the business is still new, the best quality assurance approach that is applicable to our company is Kaizen as this allows continuous improvement of the system, policies and procedures that would make the company responsive to the customer’s needs. In the implementation of our intended quality assurance system the following steps will be undertaken; 1. Identification of key tasks – this will make us know the key areas of responsibilities that is important to the over- all performance of the business. 2. Documentation of guidelines on how to do those key tasks, its processes and systems – documented tasks are easier to improve, savings us time and resources. 3. Continuously improve the readability of the documented tasks – the purpose for this is continuous improvement of readability is for easier understanding and communication. 4. Make those informations available to each workstations – this way each em ployee knows the key tasks and how to do them. 5. Create a work flow system considering the key tasks identified and documented – since the company is still new, work process are still to be created for further improvement as the business evolves. II. Choose a business that has an established quality assurance system in place and provide a summary about the business that clearly identifies the sector it operates in (manufacturer, retailer or service), its size, its main operations and its purpose or