According believed to be a failed project

According to the American Society for Quality, Total Qualitymanagement is defined as “A management approach to long-term success throughcustomer satisfaction. TQM is based on all members of an organizationparticipating in improving processes, products, services and the culture inwhich they work.

“TQM aims at improving the quality of products and servicesby bringing in refinements/improvements according to the continuous feedback,and extends quality awareness in all the processes within a firm. The main goalis to achieve optimal quality in all the areas.Total Quality Management applies to both the product and theOrganization. It does not solely focus on creating profits for the organizationbut also on improving the employee training, employee satisfaction et cetera.Disney likes to call its customers as “Guests” and treatsthem as VIPs. They utilize technology to optimize the waiting time forqueues.  Using some algorithms, a guestgets a ticket which specifies the time at which he/she should come to thespecific attraction so that he/she would not have to face a queue at all.Disneyland believes in continuous improvement, and not justfrom it’s employee’s point of view but by the perception of the guests as well.

It calls it’s customers as “Guests” and the employees as”Cast Members”. All its “Cast Members” (employees) are treated as equals, be ita sweeper or a top manager.Disneyland, after implementing its quality system in place,manages to:  a) increase customersatisfaction, b) Bring in more revenue, c) Lower the operational costs, d) Maintain higher quality and standards in products andservices, and e) Optimize the productivity.When Disneyland was first opened in 1955, it faced flak fromHollywood, top executives, media and even Walt Disney’s own brother. It wasbelieved to be a failed project and Walt Disney had to go against all odds tomake this dream aa reality. He borrowed against his life insurance and sold offall his property to fund this project.

There were numerous operational hurdleson the first day of opening but within seven weeks, the attendance has rose toover a million visitors and became more popular than the Grand Canyon andYellowstone national park. While constructing the first theme park, which wasdiversifying their business model back then, Walt Disney had imagined an empirewhich maintained a strong commitment to quality entertainment. Till this day,the core values envisaged by Walt Disney is held into place by deliveringexceptional quality and creativity. As stated by the Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts,”Disney is not in the attraction business, the hotel business, the cruise shipbusiness; They are in the guest experience business. The great shared memoriesthat guests cherish and create every day at their parks helps keep peoplecoming back year-after year”. Disneyland pays close attention to the most minute detailsand exceeds its guests’ expectations every time they visit the park. When itcomes to Quality, the focus is towards customer satisfaction, with specificfocus over the role of the employees in delivery of service. Disneyland’sphilosophy of serving the people, treating them as VIPs account for the greaterpercentage of success of the company.

Employee TrainingAt Disneyland, the employees (also called as “Cast Members”, regardless of their designation) are considered a central resource for theorganization. The recruitment procedure is comprehensive and makes sure thatthe person hired matches with the goals and the core values of the company. Theyare extensively trained in quality awareness, customer service andcommunication.  By imparting high qualitytraining to its employees, Disney directs at improving its service quality.At Disneyland the road sweepers have a 5-day training course10 minutes on how to use a sweeper and the remainder on how to give informationto guests.According to them, their sweepers are not just cleaning Main Street,they are helping to create an atmosphere of happiness. Disney utilizes a culture which is a mélange of Innovation,Design Engineering Organization(IDEO’s) under which Disney follows anon-hierarchical organization culture.

The employees are rewarded on the numberof projects that they are handling rather than on their designation. By eliminating the existential hierarchy from itsorganizational culture , Disney manages to make the voice of all its employeesheard equally. It makes every employee feel like they are playing an equally importantrole within the organization. The goal is to create an environment which isboth productive for the company and enjoyable for the employees.According to Edwards Deming’s book, Out of the Crisis, whichis credited with launching the TQM Movement, the following key principles areproposed. Let us view them in reference with Disney.

1)Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of productand service, with the aim to become competitive, to stay in business and toprovide jobs.2)Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age.Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn theirresponsibilities, and take on leadership for change. It is imperative forDisney to continuously upgrade its training procedures for all its cast membersin order to keep up with the trends and needs.3)Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.Eliminate the need for massive inspection by building quality into the productin the first place.

Rather than wasting resources on cross examination, Disneyutilizes modern technological tools such as experience design, statisticalprocess control, deployment of quality function in order to minimize the errorsin quality.4)End the practice of awarding business on the basis of aprice tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move towards a single supplier for anyone item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust. Disney’s aim is tominimize the cost of operations.5)Improve constantly and forever the system ofproduction and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantlydecrease costs.

Disney strongly believes in continuous learning and makingimprovements based on the feedback they receive.6)Institute training on the job. Employee training at Disneyis taken very seriously at all levels.

7)Institute leadership Disney believes that Leadership comesthe knowledge and expertise and not the rank.8)Drive out fear , so that everyone may workeffectively for the company. By identifying and bridging the gaps betweencommunication, culture and training, Disney drives out the fear.

9)Break down barriers between departments. People inresearch, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foreseeproblems of production and usage that may be encountered with the product orservice. Team work is deeply appreciated as Disney and no person can exist inisolation.10)Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce. Disney does not keep unrealistic slogans for its workforce to ensurehigh level of quality.11)Remove numerical quota of employees.

The responsibilityof supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. Disney strives toachieve quality results and does not give much importance to quantity. 12)Remove barriers that rob people in management and inengineering of their right to pride of workmanship. At Disneyland, the managersare responsible for the quality end results.13)Institute a vigorous program of education andself-improvement. Disneyland has training for all its cast members and all ofthem must undergo rigorous training in these areas.14)Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish thetransformation.

The transformation is everybody’s job. As stated previously,all the cast members at Disneyland are considered equally and all their combinedefforts are needed for the transformation. Just the employee training is not suffice without regularlymonitoring the progress. The cast members at Disneyland meet at regularintervals to discuss and evaluate the effectiveness of these procedures.Apart from Employee Training, Disneyland aims at attainingquality by its sound operation management techniques.

They take great interestin making sure that the tangibles are working just fine by paying immenseattention to detail. All the machinery is on a programme for preventive maintenance.   The Model for maintaining the quality at Disneylandencompassesa)Quality Planningb)Quality Controlc)Quality ImprovementQuality Planning: Disneyland imparts a rigorous  training and development programme  to its cast members to empower them so thatthey can fulfill the needs and requirements of the guests.  For planning the Quality, the needs of theguests are assessed along with developing a process to cater high quality ofservice to all its guests.Quality Control:  Quality control is carried out by the internalclients of Disneyland and involves evaluating the current performance reportand matching them with the set standards.

The last step is to bridge the gapbetween the expectations and the reality.Quality Improvement: Improving the quality finds its placein the business plan for Disneyland. This involves monitoring the progress inquality on a regular basis, rewarding the cast members for their efforts,maintaining the momentum to fulfil the goals of quality improvement plans. Six SigmaSix Sigma, a set of techniques and tools for processimprovement, aims at optimizing the output by determining the defects andremoving the root cause. Six sigma utilizes a set of quality management methods(statistical and empirical).

In regards to Disney, the following are some ofthe Six Sigma principles are are incorporated by the company.Every cast member of six sigma program needs to be trainedthrough a combination of training also known as black belt of six sigma.Six sigma engages an organizational structure that includestop level management, project leaders, facilitators etcDisneyland ensures that all its processes are meeting therequirements of the guests and while maintaining the quality standards of sixsigma.