Page 146 - DMGT520_ORGANIZATION_CHANGE_AND_DEVELOPMENT

Unit 10: Structural Intervention

Parallel Learning Structures (or Collateral Organisations) Notes

Parallel learning structures are organisations established within ongoing organisations and
have the following features:
 A mandate to deal with complex, non-routine, future-oriented problems and/or to
co-ordinate large-scale systems change;
 The creation of different norms and culture to enhance creative problem solving and to
create a model organisation from which the organisation can learn (Z and, Bushe, and
Sham).

Physical Settings or Arrangements

It can be the focus of interventions that can utilize and be highly congruent with OD techniques
and assumptions (Steele).

Total Quality Management (TQM) Programs
It is a long-term effort that orients all of an organizations activity around the concept of quality.
It is very popular in USA in 1990s. TQM pushes decision making power downwards in the
organization, provides relevant information to all employees, ties reward to performance and
increase workers knowledge and skills through extensive training. It is also called continuous
quality improvement. A combination of a number of organization improvement techniques
and approaches, including the use of quality circles, statistical quality control, statistical process
control, self-managed teams and task forces, and extensive use of employee participation
Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach that seeks to improve quality and performance
which will meet or exceed customer expectations. This can be achieved by integrating all quality-
related functions and processes throughout the company. TQM looks at the overall quality
measures used by a company including managing quality design and development, quality
control and maintenance, quality improvement, and quality assurance. TQM takes into account
all quality measures taken at all levels and involving all company employees.
Total Quality Management (TQM) programs are combinations of a number of approaches,
including:
 A high emphasis on customers, including internal customers;
 The use of statistical quality control and statistical process control techniques;
 Competitive benchmarking;
 Participative management;

 An emphasis on teams and teamwork; and
 An emphasis on continuous training (Peters and Peters, Ciampa, Sashkin, and others).
W. Edwards Deming first coined the term Total Quality Management (or TQM). It is a management
concept which works towards reducing the errors produced during the manufacturing or service
process, increasing customer satisfaction, streamlining the supply chain management, and aiming
for modernization of equipment. TQM targets to limit errors to 1 per 1 million units produced.
Total Quality Management is often associated with the development, deployment, and
maintenance of organizational systems that are required for various business processes.

A description of the culture, attitude and organization of a company that aims to provide, and
continue to provide, its customers with products and services that satisfy their needs is basically
what is TQM.

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