9.5 Benefits of Certification

	There are numerous quality initiatives that organizations are undertaking today such as: Six Sigma, Lean
	Manufacturing, Quality Awards, Process Management, Reengineering, ISO Implementation/ Recertification
	and Quality Service.
	Senior management must consider the organization's culture; the work environment and the actual work
	performed by their staff, as the quality initiatives are implemented so purported benefits are delivered.
	Other changes that impact an organization as quality initiatives are implemented include supporting the
	strategic plan for the organization internally and externally meeting changing customer needs.
	As a result, the quality practitioner needs to understand the change management process and how it helps
	with the successful implementation of a quality management initiative.
	Here are some steps to help you manage change and get buy-in from all levels of the organization:

Identify the key objectives of the quality initiative.

			Make sure you understand the business case for the quality initiative at the start.
			If the quality initiative's objectives are not clearly linked to departmental and organizational
			strategy, it increases the likelihood of failure.

9.5 Benefits of Certification

Create a steering committee to oversee the entire process of change.

			This cross-functional team will oversee the entire process of change.
			They will suggest alternative corrective or preventative actions in the event that the quality
			initiative is moving away from its original target.

Communicate to everybody in the organization that is affected by the change.

			Continuous communication to everybody in the organization that is affected by the change helps
			enormously in implementing the quality initiative.
			To start off the communication process, form small focus groups of cross-functional and cross
			levels of employees.
			Use these focus groups to identify what type and frequency of communication is required such
			as: town-hall meetings, newsletters, periodic status reports, e-mails, etc.
			Ask these focus groups to identify concerns, challenges and opportunities about the quality
			initiative implementation process.

9.5 Benefits of Certification

Undertake a Culture Review

			Organizational culture is the commonly held attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviors of its
			members.
			The culture of an organization is as unique and diverse as an individual's personality.

Implement training

			There is always a training component where change is involved.
			Training for staff can include: "How To Cope with the Stress of a Change You Didn't Want"
			Training for staff can include: "How To Cope with the Stress of a Change You Didn't Want"
			and training for managers can include "How to Create a Quality Environment" and
			"Management's Role in Ensuring Success in the Execution of Quality Initiatives".
			These programs can help prepare staff for changes to come.

	Six Sigma: A sweeping culture change effort to position a company for greater customer satisfaction,
	profitability and competitiveness (developed by Motorola in the late 1970's).

9.5 Benefits of Certification

	A goal of near perfection in meeting customer requirements. A comprehensive and flexible system
	for achieving, sustaining and maximizing business success; uniquely driven by close understanding of
	of customer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing,
	improving and reinventing business processes
	Define: Define who your customers are, and what their requirements are for your products and services -
	Their expectations. Define your team goals, project boundaries, what you will focus on and what you won't.
	Define the process you are striving to improve by mapping the process.
	Measure: Eliminate guesswork and assumptions about what customers need and expect and how well
	processes are working. Collect data from many sources to determine speed in responding to customer
	requests, defect types and how frequently they occur, client feedback on how processes fit their needs, how
	clients rate us over time, etc. The data collection may suggest Charter revision.
	Analyze: Grounded in the context of the customer and competitive environment, analyze is used to organize
	data and look for process problems and opportunities. This step helps to identify gaps between current and
	goal performance, prioritize opportunities to improve, identify sources of variation and root causes of
	problems in the process.

9.5 Benefits of Certification

	Improve: Generate both obvious and creative solutions to fix and prevent problems. Finding creative
	solutions by correcting root causes requires innovation, technology and discipline.
	Control: Insure that the process improvements, once implemented, will "hold the gains" rather than revert to
	the same problems again. Various control tools such as statistical process control can be used. Other tools
	such as procedure documentation which helps institutionalize the improvement.
	Design: Develop detailed design for new process. Determine and evaluate enabling elements. Create control
	and testing plan for new design. Use tools such as simulation, benchmarking, DOE, Quality Function
	Deployment (QFD), FMECA analysis, and cost/benefit analysis.
	Validate: Test detailed design with a pilot implementation. If successful, develop and execute a full-scale
	implementation. Tools in this step include: planning tools, flowcharts/other process management techniques,
	and work documentation.