CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 PREAMBLE
The information super highway has turned the world into a global village. Organisations are facing the kind of competition that was not envisaged a few years ago. They have to compete with goods and services from all over the world and satisfy a more educated and sophisticated customer. What is satisfactory to the customers today may not be regarded as such tomorrow as their expectations are continuously changing. In addition, there has been consistent breakthrough in science and technology over the last couple of decades. This has also affected information dissemination and management, as things earlier thought impossible now look ordinary.
Moreover, the fall-outs of a deregulated global competition have offered customers choices among various alternatives. Today, customers demand high quality and low price. Since no one organisation can boast of holding franchise to the development and delivery of quality products/services, many organisations have embraced the Total Quality Management concept as a way of survival.
One tenet of this management philosophy, which many organisations have adopted as a fundamental business strategy, is the concept of continuous improvement. No organisation can afford to be competitive if it does not continuously improve on its products/services, processes and people.
There is therefore, an urgent need for an organisation-wide approach and commitment to quality improvement. In addition, there is the need for quality improvement to be a continuous exercise or phenomenon. Over the years, this realisation has led to the development of the “Total Quality Management Concept”.
The questions bothering a great number of Nigerian Management Scholars and
Practitioners are:
- If TQM is all about continuously improving value to customers, why has DBPlc as an organisation shown lukewarm attitude to this management philosophy?
- Where it has been implemented, why has DB PLC refused to set aglow the initial zeal of commitment to continuous quality improvement beyond the prime years of its implementation?
- 3. Why have so little impact been felt from TQM on the success of Nigerian businesses relative to those of foreign counterparts?
- Are companies in Nigeria aware of the difficulties that lie ahead if they do not meet international quality standards? If they do, are they doing anything about it? It is these questions and many more that this study will seek to address.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
New competitive strategies have ruptured established management doctrines and rendered conventional methods of products/services development and delivery obsolete. Competition has become so high in all fronts that the time is now when DBPlc will only survive by making a difference. This is the reason John Young, President of Hewlett-Packard once said: “In order to compete in a global economy, our products, systems and services must be of a higher quality than our competition. Increasing Total Quality is our number one priority here at Hewlett-Packard”. To customers by creating unimagined but specially tailored products and services, to employees by opening every avenue for personal aspiration and contribution, and to managers by creating a new competitive space to build not merely a career but a legacy.
Increased expectation and demands on the part of customers in every area of organisational life have taken the centre stage. The days are gone when banks could rest on their laurels and claim to hold franchise to best quality products and services. The continual wave of technological and environmental change have turned several organisations into bystanders on the road to the future, and have made their structures, processes and skills become progressively less attuned to the ever-changing realities of the demands and expectations of present day customers.
DOWNLOAD COMPLETE PROJECT MATERIALS
ORGANIZATIONAL APPROACH TO TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF DIAMOND BANK PLC
