The Sunday Mail
Entrepreneurship Matters
Dr Kudzanai Vere
Sustainability in the entrepreneurship sector revolves around quality. The quality of products and services ultimately determines an organisation’s longevity in the market. A number of organisations have folded and some are en-route to exiting the market due to failure to maintain quality standards in their operations.
Quality management necessitates customer satisfaction which is the aim of every organisation and business as customers can easily decide against your organisation. Without quality management systems, dreaming of strong and sustainable businesses and economies will be and will remain a dream.
So what is Quality
Management Systems (QMS)?
The term “quality” has a relative meaning. The International Organisation for Standardisation defines it as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. In simpler terms a product of good quality is the one that complies with the requirements specified by the client.
Quality Management Systems (QMS), therefore, is a set of policies, processes and procedures required and necessary for planning and execution of the production, development and servicing of an organisation’s core business areas. These core business areas are those that have a bearing on the organisation’s ability to meet customer’s requirements.
From the above definition, it is evident that every business process must have quality measurement and checking systems embedded as they are all equally important in the quest to satisfy customer needs.
Key elements of a Quality Management System (QMS)
Since a quality management system is aimed at bringing in quality in almost every aspect of the business operation an appreciation of QMS’s key elements becomes crucial. Once you decide to implement a quality management system, these become key issues to address.
- Quality policy and quality objectives
The starting point in the creation of a quality management system is to draft a quality policy that is supported by objectives. A policy defines what quality means within your organisation and this as mentioned before is the starting point. A quality policy can also be embedded in the organisation’s mission statement, values, principles. Quality policies must be both flexible and scalable as circumstances keeps on changing. Quality objectives translate an organisation’s vision into practice by creating a link between customer requirements and specific, measurable, and attainable goals. Well written objectives contribute to a quality management system initiative and establishment of a customer centric culture in an organisation.
- Quality manual
Ordinarily, the quality manual must be the first documentation in the adoption and implementation of a QMS. It states the motivation behind the adoption of the framework and the role of quality within your organisation and all its constituent parts.
- Organisational structure
Quality management can only be effectively implemented within an organisation if there are clear structures and responsibilities. Every person should be assigned clear responsibilities so that the ultimate aim of the organisation of offering quality products and services and as well as satisfying its market is achieved.
The number, experience and expertise of the human capital to employ is obviously based on the organisation’s structure, systems and facilities within.
- Procedures
Everything an organisation does should be quality coated. How work is carried out determines what comes out of such toil. So every procedure within your organisation must be such that the end result conforms to the required standards.
- Data management
The quality of data available to the organisation can positively or negatively impact it’s overall performance. Organisations with ineffective data management systems and practices often experience inconsistencies in product and service quality which will ultimately lead to poor customer satisfaction.
Information about your product quality, customer satisfaction and even competitor activities must be accurate and always be presented in a way that enables decision makers to act.
- Internal processes
The entire QMS approach to quality control is to establish standardised, replicable processes. Standards for quality management require organisations to identify and define all organisational processes which use any resource to transform inputs into outputs. Virtually every responsibility in the organisation can be tied to a process, including purchasing and even sales.
Initial efforts to define processes should create a high-level picture of how processes serve the organisation and intersect with resources such as employees, machines, or technology. After identifying processes, organisations can begin to define standards and success metrics.
- Customer satisfaction from product quality
A core component of QMS is the requirement for organisations to monitor customer satisfaction to determine if quality objectives are achieved. Some standards do not prescribe specific methods for measuring customer satisfaction since the definition of product quality and available data can vary significantly between organisations.
- Improvement opportunities
A QMS dictates that continual improvement is an organisation’s responsibility. The top management must play a pivotal role in making sure that quality is maintained and this can only be achieved through continuous improvement of processes, systems and training of the personnel involved in the use of systems.
The purpose of Quality Management Systems (QMS)
The ultimate aim of QMS is to provide consistency. Customers must know what to expect in quality terms and they should receive the same quality every time they deal with your organisation. Once you provide that assurance, you will be able to maintain your existing customers while creating a repetition that will assist in luring more customers to your business.
The issues of quality apply from micro to macro levels in organisations, institutions and countries. For a country to have reputable export products and services, quality must be guaranteed. You’ll find out that the size and levels of a country’s economy is determined by its economic players’ ability to adopt and maintain quality within its operations.
What are the benefits of using a quality management system?
A QMS organises and centralises your quality control policies; that helps to keep your processes standardised and coherent. A QMS will help with training future employees and will guarantee that quality will not decrease over time. This customer focus and expectation of quality will increase collaboration among your staff and allow you to match customer expectations.
A key benefit of a QMS is the opportunity for continual improvement. Without tracking customer satisfaction, it can be difficult to know which areas of the enterprise are lacking and could be improved in the future. Streamlining and documenting this process will help you understand what changes must be made to assure customer satisfaction. This will minimise customer complaints and returns, saving you time and money in the long run.
Conclusion
The issue of quality management system is central to entrepreneurship and business for it forms one of the pillars that sustains an organisation. Without quality management systems there is not sustainable to talk about. I am glad that Zimbabwe has taken a proactive approach to this by the recent formation of the Quality Management Institute of Zimbabwe whose mandate is ensure quality is impeded in every business operation and process. As the country seeks to improve on its productive capacity in order to boost exports, issues of quality becomes an imperative.
Determined to engage, inspire and transform generations in the field of entrepreneurship and business.
Dr Kudzanai Vere is the founder of Kudfort, Transformational Mindset Institute, Premium Business Network International and the Institute of Entrepreneurs Zimbabwe. He is an entrepreneur, author and transformational speaker in the areas of entrepreneurship and personal development. The transformational speaker have trained more than 5 000 entrepreneurs globally in the areas of innovation, organisation development, practical business management and ideation. You can contact him on +263719592232 or email [email protected]
