Quality Improvement Techniques in Construction

Principles and Methods

Steven Mccabe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317884149
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Construction & Architectural Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Quality management has received much attention in recent years, not least in the construction industry. This book provides a description of the techniques of quality management and how they are implemented, regardless of the context. The author applies the techniques to the construction industry and brings in some practical experience from contractors in the construction industry.

CHAPTER 1

OVERVIEW

1.1 QUALITY MANAGEMENT: JUST ANOTHER FAD?

Price makes a point about quality when he states that the ‘the word itself must have been used more in the last ten years than in the preceding centuries, yet the more we hear it, the more confusing its meaning seems to become’ (1990:3). The word does seem to have become ubiquitous. Everything we do, everything we consume, the service we receive must have quality. But what exactly does quality mean?

It is debatable whether there is an answer. Quality, like beauty, appears to be in the eyes of the beholder. What constitutes quality to one person, may be different to others. In an increasingly competitive market, consumer power is recognised as being a major determinant on the ability of an organisation to sell its goods. Thus, the capability to provide what the customer wants is the minimum expectation. Indeed, as subsequent chapters will describe, the desire to give customers more than their expectations is what characterises organisations as excellent. Japan can claim considerable influence in having created the situation whereby quality is now the number one objective for many organisations. Quality is not just another fad; it is here to stay.

1.2 OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this book is to introduce the subject of quality. I assume the reader is relatively unacquainted with quality management, so I aim to cover all the major issues, starting from the fundamentals.

Quality management is the umbrella term for approaches to quality. The various methods and techniques will be described in subsequent chapters. The principles of quality management are applicable to every industry, within all organisations and at every level. But applications do vary from one sector to another, and quality management for construction is dealt with in the final last two chapters.

Theories and techniques may be transferred from between industries. This has been recommended in reports by Latham (1994) and by the Charted Institute of Building (CIOB) (1995). Remember that the construction industry is perceived as having serious quality problems (Ball 1988:217; Building Economic Development Council 1987; Harvey and Ashworth 1993:143–44). Quality improvements made by individual construction companies will ultimately benefit the industry as a whole.

1.3 GENERAL STRUCTURE

Fourteen chapters deal with specific elements of quality management. Each begins with a list of objectives to provide a focus for understanding, and each has a context to help place the subject-matter in the wider sphere of quality management.

Each chapter concludes with a summary of the main points, a discussion question and an individual question. These questions are to stimulate reflection and debate about the issues described. I have also included a selection of suggested further reading, and I would strongly recommend consulting some of the items. The breadth of the subject and its continual development mean that regular reading is very important.

1.4 CHAPTER OUTLINES

Chapter 2 explains the common terms associated with quality management. As such, the British Standard BS EN ISO 8402 (1995) Quality management and quality assurance — vocabulary is used to provide definitions. There are also descriptions of the four accepted stages to quality management: inspection, quality control, quality assurance and total quality management.

Inspection and quality control, are not proactive approaches. Quality Assurance (QA), and Total Quality Management (TQM) are among the most significant, and much of this book is dedicated to describing them.

Chapter 3 provides a history of quality management. Despite the belief that quality is a recent phenomenon, references go back as far as 2000 BC. However, techniques of quality such as inspection and control developed in response to the Industrial Revolution. In particular, mass production required a reduction in control by workers. Thus retrospective checking by skilled inspectors came into being.

Quality assurance arose from concerns about mass production. It aims to restore control over the standard of work to the worker, and its development appears to have been influenced by the Hawthorne experiments. The two World Wars encouraged the development of standards for armament supply and led to formal QA using quality systems.

Japan had considerable influence on the advent of TQM. But the irony is that Japan’s dominance was achieved with the help of Western advice. Two Americans, Deming and Juran, are noteworthy in this respect. Chapter 3 describes how Japanese organisations benefited from their advice, and how the West has tried to emulate them.

Chapter 4 explains what the so-called gurus of quality management have contributed to the subject (particularly TQM). It covers the pioneers, Deming and Juran, who provided the earliest philosophies of quality management. As such, they can be regarded as having started the revolution; the followers, Crosby, Imai, Feigenbaum, Ishikawa, Ohno and Shingo, who built upon the advice and philosophy provided by Deming and Juran; and the contemporaries, Peters and Waterman, Pascale and Athos, Ouchi, Conway and Schonberger, who provide theories and advice to organisations facing the challenges of the 1990s.

Chapter 5 explains what QA actually involves and how it can be used by any organisation to implement formal quality. The contents of British Standard ISO 9000, which provides guidance for the implementation of a quality management system, are described in detail. It gives practical examples of how the clauses of ISO 9000 can be applied to construction.

Chapter 6 elaborates on Chapter 5; it contains practical advice on how and, more important, who is responsible for the effective implementation of a quality system. It describes the role of a quality manager. Technical and administrative abilities, to interpret the organisation’s business needs in accordance with ISO 9000, need to be coupled with skilful human relations management, crucial when enabling system users to understand and support an initiative.

Chapter 7 describes what comes after QA, and explains how to begin making the transition to TQM. The most important requirement is a change in the culture, to facilitate the transition.

Chapter 7 continues by examining culture and how it applies to organisations. It also explains what conditions are necessary to achieve cultural change. In particular, it compares the paradigms (models) of planned and emergent change, how they relate to cultural change and whether they are appropriate.

Chapter 8 deals with a crucial issue for TQM and cultural change: how to involve the members of an organisation. People’s support and commitment is usually achieved by motivation. After reviewing the established theories, Chapter 8 offers useful advice for initiating organisational change using quality management.

It also explains the more contemporary theories of motivation, particularly those models and philosophies which place strong reliance on involving people at every level, especially the operational level. Operators then become more autonomous and are given more control over what they do, often known as empowerment. Empowerment is defined in various ways, including quotations from gurus, and the chapter ends with some suggestions on how to encourage it.

Chapter 9 looks at who will provide the leadership and who will teach the necessary skills. It explains why leadership is important and analyses the relevance of existing theories when applied to TQM.

Contemporary theories of leadership suggest the adoption of different styles. Charismatic leadership and especially transformational leadership are advocated by those who believe the traditional approaches have limited value.

Chapter 10 explains the tools and techniques of quality management, both hard and soft. Hard techniques include statistical process control (SPC), Pareto analysis and brainstorming. They tend to have a definite application in organisations or teams and they are used to solve problems or to help with the implementation of quality improvements.

Soft techniques attempt to harness the skills and expertise of people in the organisation. They do employ hard techniques, but the emphasis is on getting people to collaborate and cooperate as a group. Team working is an essential part of TQM, so Chapter 10 considers how it can be encouraged and what benefits may accrue.

Chapter 11 describe some complementary methods; they are not strictly part of TQM but they reinforce the potential for benefit. Three methods are covered. Partnering relates to the belief that improvement will be more likely if closer relationships are formed both upwards, i.e. with customers, and downwards, i.e. with suppliers and subcontractors. Partnering is an established concept in other industries, and has been used extensively in Japan by car producers such as Toyota. Benchmarking is closely associated with improvement. It is based on the principle that before an organisation can improve, it needs to establish how good it is relative to other organisations, particularly those regarded as excellent. By comparing key business processes, it is possible to establish critical success factors for achieving improvement. The aim is to use benchmarking to improve an organisation until it can compete against the best in its market. Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) considers what an organisation needs to achieve to fulfil a customer’s expectations. This is not in the traditional sense of departmental functions, but in terms of the key processes which will enable the customer to get what they want with minimum inefficiency. Any activity which is not essential, or does not add value, should be re-engineered so that it does, otherwise it should be discontinued.

Chapter 12 looks to the future and describes three methods for improvement beyond TQM. The learning organisation encourages an environment where the members are encouraged to be innovative and creative as part of the overall effort to improve. Everybody can reflect on what they have achieved and how they have achieved it. Reflection will lead to understanding and perhaps to suggestions for improvement. When carried out in teams, there will be a consensus for implementing or rejecting the suggestions. The principles of lean production and management were developed by Toyota as a method to reduce and eventually eliminate muda, a Japanese word for waste. By using technology in harmony with humans there is vast potential for identifying wasteful processes. Toyota identified certain key concepts as essential to lean production: just-in-time, automation, flexibility in the workforce to cope with change, and the encouragement of creative thinking by the workforce. These principles can also be applied outside the manufacturing environment. World class companies may be distinguished by quality prizes such as the European Quality Awards. Research carried out by Lascelles and Dale (1993:285–96) has indicated there are six levels for adoption of TQM. However, it is only when organisations consider themselves capable of entering for quality prizes that they will be approaching world class status. Chapter 12 looks at how to win these quality prizes.

Chapter 13 describes the actual experiences of several construction organisations when implementing quality management using ISO 9000. These experiences were recorded during my research, using a qualitative methodology (participant observation), into how quality management is being used by contractors. In particular, the emphasis has been on the work of the quality manager: What do they do? How do the do it? And what are the difficulties they must overcome?

According to my research, quality managers identify several issues as crucial. All expressed their belief that quality is neither part-time nor short-term. It requires commitment and dedication, from themselves as those directly responsible for the quality system, the workforce, and especially senior managers, who can sometimes be ambivalent towards QA. Benefits come when QA is implemented ‘correctly’. It has helped the quality managers to develop problem-solving approaches and encouraged them to consider other methods for producing organisational improvement.

Chapter 14 describes the experiences of construction organisations which have made, or are making, the transition towards TQM and other improvement initiatives. The traditional culture that exists in the industry does not make this easy. Quality managers who are trying to manage the change have found that improvement is only possible when all those involved have a desire to take part. A transformation in hearts and minds occurs by involving every person who contributes to the process, consistent with the paradigm in Chapter 7.

The quality managers I interviewed agree that a top-down approach is likely...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Overview
• 2 What is Quality Management?
• 3 The Historical Development of Quality Management
• 4 The Gurus of Quality Management
• 5 The use of Quality Assurance
• 6 The Importance of Quality Managers
• 7 From QA to TQM: Achieving a Change in Culture
• 8 The Importance of People
• 9 Leadership for Total Quality Management
• 10 Using Quality Improvement Techniques
• 11 Other Ways to Achieve Improvement
• 12 Looking to the Future: Is there Life after TQM?
• 13 Quality Management in the Construction Industry: Practical Applications
• 14 The Journey to TQM: Contractors' Experiences
• References
• Index