IE 673-852

Carlos G. Garces
cgg4@njit.edu
Assignment 2

1. Discuss the importance of quality partnering and strategic alliance.

The importance on partnering and strategical alliances can be seen in its supporting factors, as
described in the book there are invisible walls among companies that have some type of work
relation. If no partnerships are establish this walls wont come down, having them come down
provides the organizations with opportunity to improve and evolve its procedures and products.
Having this partnerships and strategic alliances creates a communication channel either between
organizations, teams, or departments within an organization. This communication channel now
allows for ideas and suggestions to flow around in way to improve each other, and lastly provide
a product with higher quality.

2. Discuss the various forms of quality partnering and strategic alliances.

As the book describes there are no limit to the types of partnerships that can be created, a few
types are: internal partnering, partnering with suppliers, partnering with costumers, and
partnering with potential competitors. The internal partnering refers to partnering between
management and employees by doing so this enables creativity to flow, and ideas to become
realities. Partnering with suppliers has been a game of who has the lower bid for far too long,
now partnerships should be based on certain criterias which will move quality to higher
standards. Partnering with consumers can help answer one of the greatest question I read in this
chapter, who knows better what the customer wants, your organization or the customer. By
receiving input from the costumer in early stages of a project quality can be vastly improved by
addressing any concerns and needs reveal by this partnership.

3. Discuss the importance of quality culture.

The importance of quality culture is due to the effect that has on a company as well as the effect
that it has in the view of the public. Quality culture is not something that is at the surface of an
organization, rather is something that must be welcome in by everybody from upper management
and trickle down all the way down to the employees. Leading by example and ensuring that every
employee upholds the company values can create an image for the customer that will in turn
bring rewards for the business. Having a quality culture it can help the organization from within,
by having employees uphold the values of the business it will create opportunity for
improvement. If employees believe in the business and are treated well it will create an
opportunity for them to provide input in areas that are being overlooked or areas that are being
approach erroneously.

4. Explain the difference between traditional and modern quality cultures.

Traditional quality cultures look inwards for inspiration and solutions, while modern quality
culture looks outward for customers input. In traditional organizations play a so what call waiting
 game when an issue arise, The organization and its employees will wait until the issue is almost
resolve or an idea is almost complete before jumping in and taking over in order to take the credit
for this as well as to claim that solution has been reach, while in modern quality culture the
organization and employees seek to not only handle the symptoms of an issue but the cause of it.
By taking a closer look and seeking quality throughout all processes the organization with a
modern quality culture implements a better approach in solving issues.

5. How do you understand who is a customer?

A customer is someone who you are providing something to, this can definitely be an external
person/group who receives a final product. However now we see that there are more customers
throughout the process of production and creation, within an organization different departments,
different teams are customers and suppliers of one another. If a department or team produces
something that later is given to another team this makes one a supplier and the other a consumer
and this will repeat itself until the product is completed. While all this happen the organization is
made up of suppliers and producers until the product is completed at this point the organization
becomes finally becomes a supplier to deliver the final goods.

6. Explain customer defined value, value analysis and retention.

Customer define value: As the name says the value define by the customer, this value is
determine by different criterias. Some of the aspects that define value are the selling price,
the personnel, image and the service provided by the organization. All this aspects help the
customer determine the value if one of this lacks to their standards it will be clear and cause
their decisions to be affected.
Value analysis: According to CVA there are a few process that must be followed. First we
must determine what are the attributes that are valued the most this can be done by doing
customer surveys, phone interviews or in costumer focus groups. After determining the
attributes that are important the customer must rank them by importance either from highest
to lowest or vice versa. When the ranking is completed the organization must focus on
reaching and surpassing these needs. When the organization has determine that the needs are
being met its needed to get an idea of how the organization fairs against its competition.
Customer can provide an honest and insightful answer in why they would be either incline or
not to use a competitor. Finally the cycle repeats for the next product or service in order to
achieve quality.
Retention: As with value and customer satisfaction retention is a very important element of
success. Certain organizations use what its call the feedback method as a way to improve,
however this method solely relies on waiting for customers to come up to the organization
and report their bad experiences. This method in theory does help solve issues but at the cost
of quality and satisfaction which in turn reduce customer retention. A successful approach is
by getting ahead of the issues and bad experiences. If an organization stays in constant
contact with the customer it will create an opportunity to avoid errors by having input from
costumers and preventing the negative from happening. This on turn will increase customer
retention, it will also help determine what the customer is looking for in order to avoid losing
a happy and satisfy customer to a competitor due to solvable situations.

7. Discuss product innovation models for customer retention.

 The product innovation models are:
Target the opportunity: Organizations need to identify customers needs. This is done in order
to find a path in which innovation should be directed towards. This helps with satisfying and
targeting customer satisfaction.
Explore the idea: Research must be done in order to determine pursuing certain ideas would
be a smart business move. Certain ideas might seem good but after further research it can be
determine if it will be successful down the line.
Develop Alternatives: Having more than one idea not only gives the organization possibilities
it also provides with opportunity. Having multiple options allows the organization to
determine which will be the smarter move to make, based on the organization and customer
criteria. It also provides with opportunity for there is the possibility that more than one idea
could become successful either in the same area or in different markets.
Optimize solutions: After determining the best option/alternative efforts should be made to
fix any existing issue or rough edge. By ensuring that the quality of the solution is high the
organization increases the acceptance rate as well as customer satisfaction.
Commercialize the innovation: To develop and finalize marketing is the final step towards
ensuring success. Ensuring that all efforts to positively market the product are made is a key
factor in don't letting a great product died due to poor marketing.

8. Discuss employee empowerment.

Employee empowerment is to provide the employee with ownership for their actions and jobs. By
empowering them and actually taking in account their input the quality will rise not only in the
workforce but in the products or services that are being provided to the customers. Empowerment
of don't right will elevate an organization while if poorly executed can destroy one. If an
organization request employees input but rather than utilizing such input they disregarded
employee satisfaction will decline as well as quality and production. These side effects will cause
organizations to lose reputation as well trust from employees and customers alike. Empowerment
I s a great tool, that can lead to major improvements.

9. Discuss leadership for quality.

Leadership for quality is based on the idea that constant and continuous improvement of people,
product and procedures will eventually improve every other aspect on the means to an end.
Leadership by quality needs a customer focus, satisfaction of the needs of all customer needs to
be main priority for internal as well as external customers. Quality must be in everybody's mind,
if management leads by example and ensures that all employees are seeking absolute quality only
then can we assure that the customer needs are being met. Unity of purpose represents the idea
that an organization should follow the same values if all employees seek the same values the
organization will thrive. Team work must be encourage working together for a goal leads to
innovation having different minds working together for the same goal is more beneficial when
competing against other companies in a global market only when the whole organization is a
team can they truly succeed.

10. How to lead for a better quality change?

 In order to lead for a better change leaders can follow the model of:
Develop a compelling change picture: When developing a compelling change one must keep
in mind the stakeholders. When coming up with the change picture it must be well-written
with the concern of the stakeholder in mind, whether is good or bad news it must be
prevented clearly and without mix messages. Having a mix message creates the possibility
for existing/new rumors to gain ground or be born. It's all about controlling the way the
change is perceived.
Communicate the change picture to all stakeholders: At this stage the change picture needs to
be presented in two ways in order to ensure that this stage goes smoothly. First all changes
must be presented to stakeholders in writing this is done in order for everybody to receive the
same information and avoid distortion of information. Secondly the information must be
clarify verbally at team and department level, this is done in order to resolve and clarify any
questions employees may have. In order for this stage to be successful managers must go
through training in order to have a unify voice that helps provide the same answers and help
release the buildup tension due to the changes.
Conduct a comprehensive roadblock analysis: During this face employee input is crucial, as
they are interacting with the change daily it's more likely that they will see and experience
glitches and issues with the change. Communication is important in determining what
roadblocks are being encountered.
Remove or mitigate all roadblock identified: after determining the roadblocks a correction
curse must be taken. By doing so the success rate can be implemented as well as a
termination phase. If after determining the roadblocks upper management sees that instead of
progress the c hangs will bring chaos is at this point where a decision must be made if to
continue or not. However these phase can also be solve by additional training in order to
provide employees with the tools to adapt to the new changes.
Implement, monitor and adjust: After all roadblocks have been acknowledge and/or solve the
implementation must take place of the change. While implemented the monitoring begins, the
process of change needs constant surveillance for there can always be u for seen roadblocks
that can haul the progress. This should continue until the moment when the change has
become the norm and the whole organization has transition.

11. Social networking assignment.

http://carlosggarces.weebly.com/social-networking-assignment-2.html

The objective of our discussion is to summarize as well as to input or own ideas and opinions
regarding our selected articles. This week we discuss the importance of recyclable packaging and
how new techniques can make a difference. From slimmer packaging, to clearer instructions on
how to dispose of the materials. We discuss a very controversial packaging technique where the
material is not only biodegradable but radicle as well. Faby and I discuss a great invention call
the Durabulb, we both agreed on the tremendous benefit regarding this innovation in a market
that has been the same for decades. This new way of production has open the doors for many
more improvements from packaging, transportation to increase customer satisfaction. Overall the
discussion was constructive and informative. Even though we both agreed in the importance of
this topics we shared this constructively and in a way provided each other additional supporting
arguments.