Assignment 1 – Case Study The customer knows best: AtlantiCare TQM isn’t an easy management strategy to introduce into a business; in fact, many attempts tend to fall flat. More often than not, it’s because firms maintain natural barriers to full involvement. Middle managers, for example, tend to complain their authority is being challenged when boots on the ground are encouraged to speak up in the early stages of TQM. Yet in a culture of constant quality enhancement, the views of any given workforce are invaluable. AtlantiCare in numbers 5,000 Employees $280m Profits before quality improvement strategy was implemented $650m Profits after quality improvement strategy One firm that’s proven the merit of TQM is New Jersey-based healthcare provider AtlantiCare. Managing 5,000 employees at 25 locations, AtlantiCare is a serious business that’s boasted a respectable turnaround for nearly two decades. Yet in order to increase that margin further still, managers wanted to implement improvements across the board. Because patient satisfaction is the single-most important aspect of the healthcare industry, engaging in a renewed campaign of TQM proved a natural fit. The firm chose to adopt a ‘plan-do-check-act’ cycle, revealing gaps in staff communication – which subsequently meant longer patient waiting times and more complaints. To tackle this, managers explored a sideways method of internal communications. Instead of information trickling down from top-to-bottom, all of the company’s employees were given freedom to provide vital feedback at each and every level. AtlantiCare decided to ensure all new employees understood this quality culture from the onset. At orientation, staff now receive a crash course in the company’s performance excellence framework – a management system that organises the firm’s processes into five key areas: quality, customer service, people and workplace, growth and financial performance. As employees rise through the ranks, this emphasis on improvement follows, so managers can operate within the company’s tight-loose-tight process management style. After creating benchmark goals for employees to achieve at all levels – including better engagement at the point of delivery, increasing clinical communication and identifying and prioritizing service opportunities – AtlantiCare was able to thrive. The number of repeat customers at the firm tripled, and its market share hit a six-year high. Profits unsurprisingly followed. The firm’s revenues shot up from $280m to $650m after implementing the quality improvement strategies, and the number of patients being serviced dwarfed state numbers. Answer The Following Questions (Short Answer): With organizations to run and big orders to fill, why is it not a good practice to sacrifice quality for quantity? (2 – Marks) By integrating a system of total quality management, can we make it possible to have both Quality and Quantity together? (2 – Marks) What type of changes observed in AtlantiCare after implementation of Total Quality Management Strategies? (2- Marks) What is the management decision to ensure that all new employees understood the quality culture in AtlantiCare from the onset?. (1-Marks)

Achieving Total Quality

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Question 1

The quality services to the clients remain the first offers that the businesses can offer to their customers. Providing quality care services to the people makes the people is a source that pools people to the organization (Kanji, 2015). On the other hand, the organization also requires quantity to boost increase the profit which sustains the organization exists. However, overconcentration in amount can lead to the shoddy production of the work. The quality services would attract more customers hence boosts the quantity.

Question 2

Indeed, by incorporating the system of overall quality management into the organization, it is possible for a business to have both the quality and quantity. First the TQM advocates for class (Kanji, 2015). The TQM attracts more customers hence increasing the profit of the organization. Additionally, the TQM facilitates the employees to have positive attitudes towards work, therefore, improve the quality of services of the organization.

Question 3

One of the changes of the adopted by AtlantiCare is plan-do-check-act. The process reveals the gaps that exist in the method of communication. The management of the business encourages the internal connections between the leaders. On the other hand, the new employees are oriented to the customs of the organization enabling them to manage the organization based on the rules and organization (Kanji, 2015).

Question 4

The management of the organization to manage starts by orienting the employees to the system of the organization. Additionally, the control of the organization creates the goals of the organization to create better engagement with the organization (Kanji, 2015).

References

Kanji, G. K. (2015). Total Quality Management: Proceedings of the first world congress. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

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