The definition of quality is a complex concept that lacks universality. Each person has their own subjective perception of quality, and it can be assessed differently based on various criteria. This is exemplified by Deming, a well-known expert in quality management, who did not offer a precise definition or explanation for quality.
The author of one of his final books declared that a product or service is considered to have quality if it is helpful to someone and has a strong and lasting market presence. The concept of business excellence is often defined by certain principles, practices, and techniques for effectively managing an organization and attaining results, all rooted in a set of fundamental values. Numerous countries have established their own models and frameworks for assessing and acknowledging organizations’ pursuit of business excellence, typically done through awards programs.
In Singapore, the Business Excellence (BE) initiative was launched by Spring Singapore to help organizations enhance their management systems and processes for greater performance using the business excellence framework. I believe that the statement “Quality is a means to an end for business excellence” implies that quality serves as a tool to achieve the goal of business excellence. In this context, quality is characterized by a dedicated investment of participation, care, and dedication.
The National Library Board (NLB) is an example of an organization that oversees both the National Library Singapore (NLS) and the Public Libraries Singapore (PLS). NLB has received several Business Excellence Awards from Spring Singapore because it prioritizes quality. The Business Excellence Framework consists of seven criteria categories, including Leadership, People, Planning, Information, Processes, Customers, and Results. The leadership criterion focuses on senior leadership, organizational culture, and corporate responsibility.
Senior management must show through their actions that they are dedicated to achieving business excellence and quality. In the case of NLB, the senior management is instrumental in leading the transformation of the library network into a high-quality, user-friendly institution. This shared vision among the senior management is outlined in the strategic plan’s priorities. NLB’s overall vision is to create an informed and engaged society by promoting lifelong learning, making knowledge accessible, encouraging creativity, and fostering a vibrant Singapore.
The annual Corporate Planning Retreat unifies senior and middle management as they collaborate in brainstorming sessions and discuss plans and directions. The primary goal is to anticipate customer needs and prepare for new services. Communication methods include feedback sessions, an in-house newsletter, websites, and new media platforms. Throughout the retreat, the senior management team consistently highlights NLB’s core values in serving the community.
This set of core values has been reviewed and formalized as shared values, and has also been incorporated into NLB’s Performance Management Programme (PMP). These core values are instilled in every employee during their day-to-day operations. NLB is committed to serving the wider public, including the less privileged, as part of its corporate social responsibilities. Examples of these projects include Project Delivery, which involves volunteers being transported by volunteer cabbies, and the annual Charity Book Donation event where used books from the libraries are donated to over one hundred charities.
The planning criterion revolves around creating and implementing strategies. To stay competitive in the market, organizations need a well-organized plan for both short-term and long-term goals. Every three to five years, senior management, staff, and external stakeholders collaborate to establish long-term strategic directions. In contrast, NLB conducts its Corporate Planning and Review Exercise (CPR) quarterly to outline short-term plans.
The goal is to enhance NLB’s agility and responsiveness in addressing trends and changes. The information criterion focuses on managing, analyzing, and utilizing data and information to enhance decision-making across all levels of the organization. Having essential data and information easily accessible would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of decision-making and planning. Effective information management and benchmarking are signs of a superior organization. Extensive data and information analysis support NLB’s planning, operations, and performance review processes.
The mission, vision, and strategic plans of NLB form the foundation for the selection, analysis, evaluation, and management of data and information in order to meet the needs of stakeholders. The Knowledge Management (KM) programme serves as an introduction to aligning strategies for achieving customer excellence, operational excellence, and innovation excellence. Furthermore, NLB actively participates in benchmarking exercises to gain insights from best practices in both the public and private sectors. This involves conducting benchmarking projects or activities every three years to address learning or performance gaps and enhance organizational processes.
The people criterion focuses on how the organization maximizes the potential of its workforce, including human resource strategy, training and development, employee satisfaction, and employee performance and recognition. NLB places great importance on managing and developing its staff, which helps it attract and retain a talented and dedicated workforce. NLB has a culture that provides various opportunities for staff to contribute and innovate, such as creating a project-centric environment to encourage cross-functional collaboration.
Each year, NLB administers a learning needs analysis (LNA) exercise to determine the learning and development needs of its staff. These encompass a variety of initiatives such as courses, seminars, workshops, and learning visits. To align with its work-life strategy, NLB has implemented an employee health and satisfaction framework that encompasses welfare programs, workplace health initiatives, an open communication system, and a recognition system. Additionally, NLB has established the NLB Performance Management Programme (PMP), which serves as a comprehensive promotion, compensation, recognition, and reward system aimed at motivating employees to reach high-performance levels.
Staff members who have exhibited dedication and exceptional conduct in their service performance are honored with awards such as the Annual Quality Service and Staff in the Limelight awards. The processes criterion focuses on the organization’s key processes for achieving its objectives and goals, which include the design process, operational and delivery processes, and supplier and partnering processes. These processes are aimed at enhancing performance and creating value. In order to implement customer-centric service innovations and improvements, technology is widely utilized as a crucial tool.
NLB introduced a text messaging service to conveniently provide information and answer specific questions, averaging 5,000 queries a month. Additionally, NLB collaborates with major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN (GYM) to grant access to reference collections. Moreover, the one-stop self-service terminal enables library customers to handle tasks like membership registration and loan record verification, minimising the need for separate service access and reducing wait time.
Customers are a priority for organizations as they determine the needs of the market and customers, improve customer satisfaction and enhance customer relationships. NLB aims to develop an effective customer relationship management framework by focusing on developing and enhancing customer value. By making positive impressions on customers through various touch points, NLB aims to encourage continued use of library services.
The e-kiosk terminals, borrowing stations, and book drop machines are examples of transaction machines that enable self-service and reduce transaction times. The annual Customer Satisfaction Survey reaffirms customer perceptions and expectations. The Customer Satisfaction Index determines service performance levels and identifies areas for improvement. The results criterion focuses on key performance results, including customer, financial, market, people, and operational outcomes.
The Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) is the primary metric used to evaluate customer satisfaction at NLB. It encompasses customers’ perceptions of various aspects such as the collection, customer services, information services, programmes, exhibitions, staff, and communications. The quality of NLB’s products is evaluated based on the average shelf life of its books in public libraries. Over time, NLB has significantly improved this measure from eleven years in the early 1990s to approximately five years in 2007. Employee motivation, indicated by energy levels, commitment, and creativity on the job, is addressed in question 1(b).
The driving force behind an individual’s thoughts, plans, and actions towards a desired goal is motivation. The definition of quality for a service or product lacks precision and is evaluated based on various factors. However, it is commonly agreed upon that quality is often associated with customer perceptions. An increase in work motivation will result in positive outcomes, such as the improvement of product or service quality. Motivated employees also contribute to increased productivity.
Higher profits are achieved through increased efficiency and faster production in both manufacturing and service industries. This is because the ability to produce more enables manufacturers to sell more products, while service providers can cater to a larger customer base, resulting in greater revenue. These financial gains can be utilized as incentives to further motivate employees or at least sustain their morale. Moreover, motivated employees are likely to have longer tenures within the company, leading to a deeper understanding of the company’s operations and culture.
Retaining and motivating employees has the benefit of saving time and money that would otherwise be used for recruiting and training new staff. When employees are motivated, they invest more time and effort into producing outstanding products or services. This dedication instills a sense of pride in their work, ultimately resulting in the attainment of superior outcomes. Deming’s initial contribution was the introduction of 14 Points aimed at improving management and enhancing quality, also known as Deming’s Profound Knowledge System. However, these points have received criticism for lacking a clear rationale.
The managers believed they lacked the necessary tools to achieve their goals. Towards the end of his life, Deming started integrating the fundamental principles of the 14 Points into a ‘Profound Knowledge System’. Deming asserted that this system comprises four interconnected components: system appreciation, variation comprehension, knowledge theory, and psychology. These elements offer crucial insights for creating efficient management techniques and decision-making tools in the modern intricate business landscape.
Theory of knowledge in management philosophy is rooted in systems theory, asserting that every organization is comprised of interconnected processes and individuals. This implies that managers must comprehend the functioning of the system and the rationale behind decisions that impact its future. Ultimately, the success of all personnel within the system is contingent upon the management’s ability to optimize the system as a whole.
According to Deming, experience alone cannot be validated and is thus useless in management. On the other hand, theory enables the understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, facilitating predictions and rational decision-making. The theory of knowledge plays a vital role in management since failing to comprehend it can result in unfavorable situations. These include a lack of comprehension in planning and achieving learning and improvement, as well as uncertainty regarding the differentiation between improvement and change.
Although efforts have been made to tackle them, three problems may still remain unresolved. SMRT Corporation Limited (SMRT), established in 1987, serves as Singapore’s main provider of public transportation services. It offers a range of commuter solutions and manages an extensive network encompassing trains, buses, and taxis. Additionally, its stations house conveniently located retail shops. Over the past years, SMRT has consistently recorded an annual average of 300,000 bus trips and 600 million train trips.
Established in 2000 and listed on the Singapore Exchange, this company currently generates an annual revenue of approximately SGD 1.1 billion and holds total assets exceeding SGD 1.8 billion.
The Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) is Singapore’s primary railway system, which comprises a rapid transit network with over 100 stations spanning more than 140 km. Ongoing projects aim to extend the network to over 160 stations by 2021, covering a distance surpassing 220 km.
Before the entry of SBS Transit Limited, SMRT was the sole operator of the MRT from 1987 to 2003. During this period, under the management of SMRT, the MRT garnered a flawless reputation and was widely recognized as one of the most efficient transportation systems globally.
However, on December 15, 2011, a significant breakdown took place on the MRT network causing disruptions throughout the North-South Line. As a result of this incident, more than 127,000 commuters were left stranded while an additional 4,000 individuals became trapped inside the trains.
In the trapped trains, certain commuters became panicked after being stuck for hours and attempted to shatter the train windows, resulting in turmoil within the heavily populated city as commuters outside the stations were uncertain of how to proceed. On December 17, 2011, train services faced disruption once again, impacting around 94,000 commuters. To address these occurrences, a Committee of Inquiry (COI) was created on December 29, 2011 with the aim of examining the train disruptions. This investigation lasted over a period of six weeks and involved testimonies from a total of 116 witnesses.
On 15 December 2011, a significant train disruption occurred when four trains lost traction power and stalled on the north-bound track between City Hall and Braddell stations. The same issue occurred again on the morning of 17 December 2011, resulting in four trains being immobilized due to power supply problems. This technical issue was caused by damage to the Current Collector Device (CCD) shoes, which are responsible for supplying electrical power to the trains. As a result of the damaged CCDs, the trains were unable to receive electricity for their propulsion and other essential systems, including air-conditioning and cabin lighting.
In relation to Deming’s Profound Knowledge of System, the SMRT management’s failure in the aspect of ‘theory of knowledge’ is evident. They were unable to apply theories to comprehend the functioning of the MRT system and anticipate its future impact. As an example, despite the maintenance manual explicitly mandating annual inspection of the Third Rail Support Assembly (TRSA), the management neglected to incorporate this practice. Furthermore, reliability concerns were indicated by the history of claw drops associated with the original 1985 claw design extensively used on the North-South Line.
