Elements of Quality Culture

Elements of Quality Culture Sashkin and Kiser (in Hardjosoedarmo, 2001) suggest eight ways (they call them elements) to develop an organization's quality culture. Namely as follows: a. Quality information must be used for improvement, Not to judge or control employees. In institutions whose quality culture is already established, leaders receive information or data about product/service quality that is really examined, analyzed so that the root of the problem is found and then an improvement program is formulated according to the Deming PDCA cycle. If the quality information/data is not or is not as good as expected, leaders should not scold/judge and blame staff/employees. In institutions whose quality culture has not yet developed, if information from staff and employee reports is not good, they are scolded, the information is used as a basis for leaders to judge subordinates. This situation encourages all employees to make good reports in order to please the leader/sir happy (ABS) and avoid anger. The result is that the leadership does not get the real information and of course this will lead to wrong analysis and will result in the preparation of programs that do not solve the problem. b. Authority must be balanced with responsibility. If a quality culture has grown, then authority will be balanced with responsibility so that staff/employees can carry out the tasks that are their responsibility optimally. If not, then the achievement of the program will not be maximized and external and internal customer satisfaction will not be met. This authority granting system must also be seen as an empowerment effort. c. Awards for quality improvement results There should be awards for quality improvement results. Every success in an institution that has grown a quality culture needs to be awarded. Awards do not have to be in the form of money, pats on the shoulder, announcements of names at ceremonies/meetings, published in bulletins, and the like are also forms of awards. Awards are attempted to be given to teams or groups in line with the principle of work being done in teams or groups. An effort must be made to balance the reward system for the team and the entire organization as well as for individual employees. Shaskin and Kiser (1994) even suggested Gainsharing, which is the distribution of profits to employees who find ways to save production costs. Also suggested are profitsharing, which is employees at all levels receive a share of the company's profits and are usually given at the end of the year. d. Cooperative as a basis for cooperation Cooperative, not competition, must be the basis for cooperation. In line with the principle of empowering individuals and groups in a quality culture, mentoring and coaching are always attempted in working. Therefore, in carrying out activities, cooperation and mutual support are always prioritized, not competition with each other. Each individual employee acts as part of a team member for the good and success of a unified institution. One effort in accordance with this cultural element is to design work so that employees work in groups that are accommodated in several teams. In this quality culture, institutions always strive to empower employees followed by a climate to improve self-control and self-managing teams. One important message that is not recommended in this quality culture is that managers measure staff and employee performance with matrix measurements. e. Employees must have a guarantee of security and job continuity Employees feel safe at work, protected from work accidents including not being fired by their superiors. Managers do not easily dismiss employees on the grounds that the employee is no longer useful to the company or because the company is experiencing a threat of loss. Japanese companies generally adhere to the concept of working for life (life-long Employment). Conventional management where quality culture is not developed, then managers tend to implement a hire and fire strategy. Companies will hire people if they need to increase productivity and lay off employees if they experience losses, companies like this are known as hire and fire companies. Employees are treated like machines that can be replaced with newer machines. Employees are not empowered, for example through training or mentoring, so that self-development or professional development becomes the business of each employee. A company culture like this certainly makes employees feel insecure and threatens the sustainability of their status as employees. f. There must be a climate of justice Every employee in the company/agency receives fair treatment as indicated by the behavior and actions taken by managers at all levels. Shaskin and Kiser (1994: 104) give examples of indicators of a climate of justice, including: 1) Building trust, for example by sharing useful, valuable information and shared commitments. 2) Managers consistently make decisions according to mutually agreed organizational values, not surprised by deviant managerial decisions. 3) There is no policy manipulation (white lies) and covering it up as if the policy is fair. g. Compensation must be balanced among all levels of employees h. Employee Ownership According to Shaskin and Kiser, the eight main elements are indicators of the growth of a quality culture. In its implementation in the field of education, of course, it still needs to be transformed into a context that is in accordance with the characteristics of education, especially in school settings. Operationally, Shaskin and Kiser emphasize that culture is a cumulative perception of how an institution treats its employees and how one employee treats another employee. It is all based on the consistent and persistent actions of managers seen by employees, suppliers (vendors) and customers (customers). Building a quality culture is not easy, the biggest challenge is to continue in the long term in implementing the values of Quality Management. The characteristics of the quality culture should be known by all members of the organization through various socialization methods including being exposed in strategic places. The characteristics of this culture according to Goetsch and Davis (1994, p. 126) are as follows. 1) Management philosophy is widely socialized 2) Emphasis on the importance of human resources for the organization 3) Celebration of important organizational events 4) Recognition and appreciation for successful employees 5) Effective internal information networks to communicate quality culture 6) Rules/procedures for relationships between employees and leaders and each other are informal 7) Strong organizational value system 8) High performance standards 9) Definite/solid organizational character.