2. Supervisory Control and Quality
CHAPTER 19
Supervisory Control and Quality

3. Steps in the Controlling Process
Control is accomplished by comparing actual performance with predetermined standards and then taking necessary corrective actions
A. Establishing performance standards:
1. A standard outlines what is expected
2. Standards are usually expressed in terms of quantity, quality, or time limitations
3. Standards take into account more than just work
4. Many methods for setting are available including the judgment of the supervisor, analysis of historical data, and employment of industrial engineering methods

4. Steps in the Controlling Process
B. Monitoring performance:
1. Provides information about what is actually happening
2. Monitoring must be done often enough to provide adequate information but not so often as to become too expensive or threatening to employees
3. Some methods for monitoring performance are reports, audits, budgets, and personal observations
C. Taking corrective action:
1. If standards are not being met, the supervisor must find the cause and take corrective action
2. If performance exceeds standards, a supervisor might provide positive reinforcement
3. When performance is below standards, the supervisor usually takes increasingly harsh actions
4. Supervisors should fully explain why a corrective action is necessary

5. Tools for Supervisory Control
Budgets:
1. A budget is a statement of expected results or requirements expressed in financial or numerical terms
2. The danger of a budget is that it can be used to be inflexible or to hide inefficiencies
Written reports:
1. Supervisors may prepare reports for upper management or receive reports from subordinates
2. Reports may be periodic or prepared as necessary
3. Analytical reports interpret the facts they present, but informational reports only present the facts
4. Unnecessary reports can present a substantial waste of resources

6. Tools for Supervisory Control
Personal observation:
1. Besides providing information, personal observation can communicate the supervisor’s interest in the employees
2. Potential problems with this approach are that an employee’s behavior may change when being watched or the supervisor might have a subjective view of what is happening
3. Management by walking around is a hands-on approach to control
Electronic monitors:
1. There are a number of electronic devices that can monitor what is going on including electronic cash registers, video cameras, and phones that record conversation length
Management by objectives:
1. MBO is part of the planning function, but once the system is developed, it can be used for control purposes

7. Supervisory Control In Practice
Areas of control depend on the supervisor’s areas of responsibility. Two common areas are quality assurance and inventory control
a. Quality assurance: includes everything that an organization does to assure the quality of its products and services
b. Inventory control: is concerned withmaintaining an adequate but not too excessive amount of inventory

8. Quality and the Supervisor
The supervisor evaluates quality in relation to the specifications that are set when the product or service is designed
Why insist on quality?
1. Rising labor and material costs
2. More demanding customers
Who is responsible for quality?
1. Every supervisor should worry first about their own area of responsibility before looking to place blame on another department
2. In the final analysis, accountability for quality is spread across the entire organization

9. Quality and the Supervisor
Types of Quality Control
1. Product quality: control is used to evaluate a batch of products that already exist. It typically involves accepting or rejecting an entire batch based on a sample
2. Process quality control: is used to check machines and/or processes to ensure that they are operating within certain pre-established tolerances
3. Quality of services: may be checked by calling customers to see how they would rate the quality of service

10. Quality and the Supervisor
D. Quality assurance:
1. Historically, quality was determined by inspection after production
2. Today the emphasis is on prevention of defects and mistakes by placing an operator in charge of their own quality while goods or services are being produced
3. W. Edwards Deming is the best known advocate of the prevention approach to quality He assisted the Japanese in improving quality and production after WWII

11. Quality and the Supervisor
E. Total quality management (TQM): An organization wide emphasis on quality as defined by the customer
1. Find out the customers’ wants
2. Design a product or service that will meet what customers want
3. Design a production process that facilitates doing the job right the first time
4. Keep track of results and use those to improve the system
5. Extend these concepts to suppliers and to distribution

12. Quality and the Supervisor
F. Other quality standards:
1. ISO 9000: an international standard that focuses on quality control procedures rather than the quality of the end product or service
2. ISO 14000: a series of voluntary international standards covering environmental management tools and systems
3. Zero-defects approach: attempts to create a positive attitude toward the prevention of low quality by making everyone aware of their potential impact on quality
4. Quality circle approach: a supervisor and a voluntary group of employees, after proper training, meet together periodically to solve quality problems and identify ways of improving quality

13. Quality and the Supervisor
G. Quality Guidelines
The key to the prevention of quality problems is employee involvement
1. Make sure employees have received proper training
2. Start new employees off right
3. Keep employee relations on an individual basis
4. Don’t settle for less than desired
5. Communicate the value of top quality
6. Perform thorough inspections
7. Encourage suggestions
8. Learn from the past
9. Solicit the help of other departments and supervisors
10. Assign individual responsibility wherever possible
11. Set the example

14. Quality and the Supervisor
H. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award:
1. Administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to be given to a company located in the U.S.
2. The purpose is to encourage efforts to improve quality and to recognize the quality achievements of U.S. companies