Organization policy focuses on efficiency

Note: This is an electronically generated translation. It may not be 100% perfect.Read more.

Efficient organization

Of an organization is expected that the knowledge and skills of people and the business assets efficiently and effectively used to determine the business objectives.

Teamwork

The achievement of the targets of the company is highly dependent on the degree of collaboration between departments and so people (employees) in the organization.

Through cooperation, the efficiency of the organization improves, and therefore ensures the continuity of your company. The efficiency of the organisation largely determines the profitability of the company. Important enough to ask the question, who is responsible in your company? Not the employees on the shop floor, but the manager (entrepreneur) is responsible for encouraging and improving cooperation between employees and departments.

Organizational Structure

Tasks and departments

The organizational structure is the way tasks are distributed within an organization and how then coordination between subtasks is established.

In other words, the structure contains the distribution of tasks between the departments.
All tasks in the SME organization will be by means of business processes described and documented. The starting point of describing business processes is the shop floor, the organization’s chart is “bottom up”. Why “bottom up” because the main business place is there where the employee is in direct in contact with the customer. All other processes in the organization are entirely subordinate to that.

Click above for an example organisation chart

Customer focus is to meet customer expectations

Everyone in the Organization has customers, there are “external” and “internal” customers.

The focus is on the “external” customer, but that does not mean that the “internal” customer is less important! The entire organization contributes to the expectations of the “external” customer requirements that can only happen if all “internal” business processes run smoothly.

All business processes are identified, first all operations of the company in direct contact with “external” customers, then all internal business processes.

In both cases the question is how can we meet the expectations of the customer? A work process is so attuned to the expectations of the customer, only if the customer expectations are fully met it will get the stamp approved and shall then be documented. .
The document serves as work instruction to the employee in performing his / her job responsibilities.

• During the description of the processes, a number of important questions are asked;

• How can we on this particular workplace, deliver the best possible customer service?
• And how can we maximize the operating profit on this particular workplace?
• Which quality requirements must the employee comply with?
• And which “tools” are needed by the employee on that particular workplace to achieve the required standard?

work processes testing

Finally, all actions of your employees in relation with customers are tested for efficacy and documented to serve as work instructions (manual). The documentation and work instructions are important to ensure that all operations over and over again meet the specified quality standard. The work instructions shall be measured continuously whether these still meets the expectations of the customer and that’s not for nothing.

It should be ensured that the procedures remain in compliance with the original premise, “comply with the expectations of the customer”. The danger is that procedures are going to life a live of their own, whereby the measurebility, accountability and uniformity are going to prevail, this comes at the cost of added value to the customer!

Read also the article ” Procedures, useful or obstacle?”

To avoid that procedures life a live of their own, there is a check-list designed to record deviations with the aim of business processes that do not meet the expectations of the customer to eliminate or improve.

Click above and look at how business processes are tested and how a process description is mapped.

Motivated staff, a world of difference

Motivated employees cost less and feel connected to the company, unmotivated employees make more mistakes and consciously or unconsciously they harm customer relationships.

Highly motivated employees you will get by investing in employees. The level of knowledge and skills of your employees (work floor and management) should be in line with the tasks they need to accomplish. Level of knowledge and skills are a dynamic processes that should develop along with products, services and changes in the market.
This requires an active training policy, where “brushed up” should be continuously evaluated. The investment that you are doing here pay for themselves, the employees are better able to perform their jobs, resulting in fewer errors (lower costs), customer satisfaction increases and you have highly motivated employees.

Functions

On the basis of the documented working processes you divide the organization into functions.

And you design an organization attuned to the current situation of the work processes. A function is a standard set of functions, rights and obligations for the employee within a particular domain of the organization.

Each function is provided with a job description, in which the title and the purpose of the function are described. The place that occupies the position in the organization, the relationship with other functions and to whom is reported. In management roles is listed to whom direct leadership is given, the corresponding powers and responsibility that the function entails. What internal and external contacts belongs at the function and what reporting obligations there are.

Job requirements

The activities are described on the basis of the work instructions, divided into main and secondary tasks.

In the quality requirements is recorded to which the job holder must comply in order to achieve the objectives. Training and experience, written and verbal communication, social skills, personal qualities and autonomy are components that are part of the quality requirements.

Click above and use the sample job description. First describes the shopfloor activities which are direct contact with the customer, followed by the rest of the organization.

Quality policy SMEs

“Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. A product is not quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe. This is incompetence. Customers pay only for what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing else constitutes quality.”. – Peter F. Drucker. Americans management guru

What can Quality really mean?

Everyone talks about quality, but often we are not on the same wavelength as we are talking about quality. In the publication ” Quality is about … “ is demonstrated with practical examples what quality is really about and the beauty is, you can start today.

Each employee has a customer

The company’s top priority is that agreements with customers always be respected or be informed if there is deviated from. Both internally and externally, each employee in the enterprise has customers!

The quality of products / services and all internal and external actions are important for the continuity and profitability of your business. Who is responsible for “quality” in your organization? A short and simple answer, “everyone”! Because everyone in your organization responsible for the quality delivered, everyone has a duty to carry out tasks according to the quality standards.

Quality standards production and products

To maximize the profitability of the company is aimed at efficient use of raw materials and production resources.

In order to be able to achieve for the different phase in which the product is quality standards are drawn up. The establishment of quality standards alone is insufficient, there will also be measured whether the standards are met. Through quality indicators provides objective information on deviations from production processes and products. It enables you to take corrective measures in order to reduce the cost of production and products, maximizing the profitability of the company.

Click above for quality indicators products that you can apply in your company.

Quality standards customer focus

A system of quality standards is necessary to measure the customer focus.

The standards for each SME organization and / or department is different because customers have different needs in various situations. At customer focus is not only about the technical quality of your product and / or services, but the quality of your entire organization from shop floor to the management. Everything and everyone in the organization, has at least the objective to meet customer expectations, according to the prescribed quality standards. Before you can set it up quality standards it is necessary to determine exactly what the customer wants, expects and demands. A thorough analysis of the customer is absolutely necessary before you can write the standards. Knows more about the customer than the customer of himself is the objective.

Click above for indicators of quality customer focus that you can apply in your company.

Customer focus is subdivided in standards of behavior and performance standards.

In the behavioural standards is defined “how to” approach the customer (courtesy) and certain actions which are defined as a minimum and must be met. Of freedom can be no question here, the standards are binding agreements within the enterprise which must be followed.

The standards of behaviour be drawn up for customers and colleagues (internal customers). Internal customer relationships include for example manager and employees or delivering information between departments and employees.

The Performance Standards are concrete measurable because it concerns for example, complaints, supplies, written communication, etc..

At each performance standard has a number and time unit linked. The performance standards that are adopted must be realistic and feasible, performance standards that do not or can hardly be achieved work contra productive for employees, which is certainly not in the interest of customer focus. The performance standards are drawn up in consultation with the parties concerned and then deployment and clearly documented in the SME organisation.

Quality Care

The common aim, excellent organization

Quality care in your organization is a mutual interaction between employees and departments and suppliers who collectively aim to achieve the desired quality level.

The quality objective is the control of all business processes in SMEs business, from suppliers to deliver the product and / or services to your customer without any errors in the organizational chain. Maintaining the quality demands constant attention of the organization and where necessary, corrective actions are taken to improve. Deviations can only come to light if there is an adequate measuring system implemented and subsequent improvement actions are initiated.

Education and training

In order get the notion of quality across the employees they need to be trained.

This is to “understand” why is it so important to deliver quality. Once it is understood that to maintain and improve the quality level, the competitiveness of the company improves. Than the employee will understands that he / she can exercise direct influence in the existence of their own position in the organization.

Continuous quality improvement process

Quality improvement is the improvement of existing work processes in order bring them on a higher quality level.

The need to improve may lie in the fact there are too many errors are signalled in a business process, but they may also ask for new market needs. Quality improvement is a continuous process in your organization and therefore it is important that on regular basis, in small project teams, is worked on improvement of the work processes. From the analysed measuring results is a priority list drawn up with associated planning. The plan indicates a start and end date. The objective of improving the work process, who are developing the proposals and who will approve the proposals. Finally, the date for implementation is scheduled.

Employees generally know best what goes wrong on the floor-shop rather than your managers or yourself. so make use of that knowledge and challenge the shop-floor to come up with solutions.