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Total Quality Management in Public Transportation

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Total Quality Management in Public Transportation Transit Cooperative Research Program Sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration RESEARCH RESULTS DIGEST October 1994--Number 3 Subject Areas: VI Public Transit Responsible Staff Officer: Stephen J. Andrle Total Quality Management in Public Transportation A TCRP Digest on the progress of Project F-3, "Total Quality Management in Public Transportation," prepared by MacDorman & Associates in association with the American Quality Group and the Spire Group. This is a two-phase project, which presents research on Total Quality Management (TQM) in the private and public sectors and in the U.S. public transportation industry. This Digest highlights the results of Phase I. The second phase involves the introduction of TQM at four transit systems and the development of training and educational materials on TQM for use by transit systems nationwide. INTRODUCTION director of quality assurance, or the work supervisor. It can be defined, measured, and achieved, but such At the end of the 20th century, changes in achievement requires that quality is built into all demographic patterns and employee expectations, work processes and is understood and applied by all shifts in societal demands, increased competition and employees. Everyone is responsible for TQM, fiscal constraints, and the requirements of adopting especially senior management; all employees are new technologies have made many traditional involved in solving problems and improving business practices obsolete. To meet these broad performance. challenges, growing numbers of American businesses Like many so-called "new ideas," the have adopted the principles of Total Quality components of TQM are not all new. Rather, TQM is Management (TQM) to improve the responsiveness new because it embraces and enjoins many existing of their products and services. These adopted management and organizational philosophies. TQM principles have influenced system changes that may has its roots in many disciplines, including increase customer and employee satisfaction, reduce economics, industrial engineering, social psychology, costs, and improve productivity. mathematical statistics, and management science. The transit industry faces many of these same challenges. The principles of TQM appear to hold STUDY OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE promise as a way to improve transit service, increase ridership, and fulfill transit's broad social mission. The objectives of Project F-3 are to identify, However, to date, only a few agencies have evaluate, and recommend applications of potentially introduced innovative TQM-based practices. successful methods of implementing TQM in public transportation to increase ridership through improved WHAT IS TQM? customer satisfaction, to increase productivity, and to reduce costs. TQM is a management philosophy concerned The project is very timely and important because with people and work processes that focuses on it provides the public transportation industry the customer satisfaction and improves organizational opportunity to performance. TQM requires an enterprise to systematically energize, manage, coordinate, and · review the literature, principles, and improve all business activities in the interest of practices of TQM within and outside the public customers. transportation industry; TQM requires improvements throughout an · conduct, evaluate, and document pilot TQM organization to reduce waste and rework, to lower initiatives at public transportation agencies; costs, and to increase productivity. Quality is no · prepare informational materials on TQM for longer merely the province of service inspectors, the board members, managers, and union officials; ____________________________ TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 2 · prepare user-friendly Fayol, a French mining engineer who goals. McGregor's studies and writings educational materials on TQM for headed a relatively large business (coal have been the vehicle of much work on public transportation agencies pursuing mine), developed the first rational "organizational development." TQM; and approach to the functional organization. · identify future research needs on TQM for public transportation. Frederick W.Taylor's famous Quality Management study of shoveling sand in a steel mill The results of this project will be focused on increasing individual labor documented in a final report that will productivity in order to provide The concern for quality has a long present the Phase I research results and employees with a decent livelihood. and rich history, extending back to the Phase II pilot application results. Later, the husband-and-wife team of artisans and craftsmen, when master Other products from this project will Frank and Lillian Gilbreth conducted tradesmen inspected the work of include materials that may be used in studies of time and motion productivity apprentices to ensure quality the future by the pilot public that were intended to perfect business craftsmanship. The introduction of transportation agencies to continue behavior through testable work mass production at the beginning of the their TQM initiatives, and by other methods. 20th century was the dawn of a new public transportation agencies age. The high numbers of poorly made throughout the United States that wish In the early 1920s, Pierre S. and noninterchangeable parts, to pursue TQM. duPont followed by Alfred P. Sloan, breakdowns, and loss of sales because the CEO of General Motors of unreliable products forced Corporation, confronted the issue of the companies to make improvements. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON appropriate degree of centralization or MANAGEMENT decentralization of authority for Initially, quality management was decisions in large organizations. Sloan a manufacturing concept intended to The history of management traces developed and implemented the ship nondefective products. It was the back more than two centuries to the organization principle of viewpoint of G.S. Radford that English economist Adam Smith. Smith, decentralization and systematic inspectors should examine, weigh, and and many other economists through the approaches to business objectives and measure each item prior to its leaving early years of the 20th century, focused strategic planning. the factory. Inspection, measurement, on commodities and not on labor. Early and statistical analysis were the early economists did not consider Behavior in Organizations foundations of quality control. management as a central issue in Mistakes were not necessarily business economics. Elton Mayo was the director of the prevented, but they were not shipped. famous Hawthorne studies (1927-1932) Inspection became an industrial safety J. B.Say, a French economist and and the founding father of the Human net. early follower of Adam Smith, stressed Relations movement--the first major the importance of the managerial task impact of social science on of making resources more productive. management thinking. He emphasized Quality Pioneers Another Frenchman, the Comte de that employees must first be understood Saint-Simon, foresaw the emergence of as people if they are to be understood organizations, the building of social as organization members. His work Quality management advanced, structures within organizations and, in stressed the importance of an adequate largely, through the writings and particular, the management of tasks. communications system, particularly teachings of so-called Quality Pioneers from employees to management. or TQM gurus. The pioneers focused Organizations and the Management on quantitative techniques and methods of Work Douglas McGregor is best known to control the quality of manufactured for his discourse of Theory X and products. From its beginnings at Bell It was not until large-scale Theory Y approaches to management. Laboratories, TQM evolved and organizations began to emerge in the Theory X was cast as the traditional developed while the most renowned early 1870s that the structure, view of management direction and pioneers created and promoted the management, and behavior of control. Conversely, Theory Y philosophy. Five of the more notable organizations became the subject of addresses the integration of individual proponents and leaders of TQM are discussion, debate, and writings. Henri and organizational briefly introduced below: These Digests are issued in the interest of providing an early awareness of the research results emanating from projects in the TCRP. By making these results known as they are developed, it is hoped that the potential users of the research findings will be encouraged toward their early implementation Persons wanting to pursue the project subject matter in greater depth may do so through contact with the Cooperative Research Programs Staff, Transportation Research Board, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20418 3 · W. Edwards Deming is best The rising interest in TQM has Regardless of the differences and known for his "Fourteen Points," a made publishing and consulting in similarities among the TQM gurus, broad set of simple but profound quality management a growth industry. organizations considering the pursuit of quality principles; the "Seven Deadly Appendix A contains a bibliography TQM need not adopt the philosophy of Diseases," common obstacles to quality and reference guide, which includes a single expert nor should they rethink improvement; and the "Plan, Do Check, many of the more significant books and the entire field and build their own Act (PDCA) cycle," a systematic articles on TQM.
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