Quality Management

Elan employs 3 full-time workers year round and 7 seasonal employees in the summer months. Elan Management has been successful through the con injections it has with one of America's top builders, DRP Horton. DRP Horton has chosen Elan Management as one Of its go-to management communities in the Atlanta metro area. Elan does a good job of quality control in keeping the clients happy but there are several competitors in this industry and in order for the company to grow, Elan will need to implement ways to improve quality through quality planning and assurance. Robber Statement We are focused on becoming the go-to firm for other builders in the metro Atlanta area. We have deiced that we have an issue with quality planning and implementation which is needed if the company is to grow in the next few years as it would like. Elan is looking to obtain on average 3- 4 new clients per year. The current quality planning initiatives are basically non-existent. It appears to be more of a  "go with the flow' type of planning. In other words, if something comes up, then it will be handled, if not no one worries about it.This process is not sustainable for growth and the company will never gain more clientele. We need to incorporate procedures on how to build clientele and implement those procedures timely. When Elan Management opened in 2008, we had 6 clients (communities). Over the next 4 years, we gained 8 more clients. These clients were assigned to us directly by the builder of the communities. There was no effort on our part to obtain the communities. In the past 2 years, 4 of the communities have since turned over to the homeowners and we no longer manage them.The goal of all homeowner's associations is to eventually turnover to the homeowners if they are willing. If we are unable to develop better quality management skills, we will eventually have no clients and will continue to wait for DRP Horton or other builders to provide hem to us instead of us attempting to get the clients on our own. Literature Review As stated by Catalina â€Å"In the current market economy, companies are constantly struggling to achieve a sustained competitive advantage that will enable them to improve performance, which results in increased competitiveness, and of course, profit.Among the few competitive advantages that can become sustainable competitive advantages, quality plays a crucial 234) In the current state, Elan cannot compete with those top local management agencies such as Community Management Associates or All Property Management which have oratorios that is considerably larger than ours. We have to be willing to create ways to better market our company to potential clients. Although, we are able to maintain the quality with our current clients, future clients are seemingly unaware of our existence.As stated by Crosby ‘There is no such thing as a quality problem. Problems originate in functional departments. Thus, a firm may experience account ing problems, manufacturing problems, design problems, technical support problems, and so on. In Crosby view, these are all quality problems, but the burden of the responsibility for solving them falls on these national departments and not in the quality department. The role of the quality department should be to measure conformance, report results, and provide leadership and support to drive quality improvement. † (p. 3) Since Elan Management is such a small company, there is no dedicated quality department to turn to for answers on quality improvement so each individual employee in some way will need to contribute to the quality process. According to Schroeder, â€Å"Managers and employees should be trained in the quality initiatives the company has implemented. Employees should be a part of the process in developing methods to assist in getting other employees involved in quality improvement and acceptance. † (p. 6) As I stated above, since Elan doesn't have a qualit y management team, all employees should have input in the quality process.Not only will it benefit the clients that we serve but it will also increase employee morale. Although there are only 3 full-time employees, having them involved would show them that they are appreciated and their opinions are valued. According to Kenton, â€Å"the process of collaborative planning can promote networks, coordination, and buy-in that promotes implementation, even if the plan itself is not directly influential. † (p. 436) So, having a bottom-up approach and including members of the entire company is beneficial overall even if it doesn't fully result in what was expected. The quality experience process occurs when firms (alone or with customers) deliver attributes for customers to experience and customers perceive these attributes through the lens of their measurement knowledge and motivation, emotions, and expectations. † (Colder, p. 4) Incorporating ways to enhance the customer exp erience is critical. Including customers in the process through voice-of-the-customer (VOCE) analysis with customer input would be helpful. Many organizations currently invest in quality improvement programmers.However, the literature has revealed that many companies felt that the quality improvement programmers had fallen short of their expectations and that these programmers were not generating the anticipated improvements (L am, 1997). The key reason for this gap between quality improvement expectations and the realization of benefits is the absence of an effective quality planning process before its implementation (Curran and Godlier, 2000). Thus, quality planning is identified as the most significant phase in a corporate quality management process requiring ore attention. † (Generate, p. 02) As Generate states, quality plan inning is pertinent to the quality management process. Companies have to create a clear cut plan in order to become successful. In order for companies to be in a position to improve and offer a higher standard of quality, they must come up with avenues to make it happen. Analysis Elan Management's problem starts with the lack of a quality planning process. By not having a quality plan, we are not allowing ourselves to improve and go after what we want, which is increased clientele. Elan blames a lot Of its lack Of progression on the size Of he company rather than its lack of utilizing available resources.Just because the company is small does not mean that it cannot grow and be as successful as those larger management firms in the area. The owner must realize the importance of providing quality to the clients and how we have managed for this long. Clearly, we are capable since we are still in business. Although, an actually quality management department cannot be created with the amount of staff we have, it is possible to hire an expert that could lead us in the right direction. â€Å"Project management requires achieving cost, schedule, and performance arrests while providing an outcome that satisfies the client.A measure of the value of the project to the client is the level of quality associated with the completed project. â€Å"(Liberator, p. 422) For Elan, our project is simply how do we get more clients and once we get the clients how do we not only keep them but also have them to refer others to us as well. With property management, our clients are the Board of Directors for each community. If the Board feels we are doing a great job, they will be more inclined when a friend or relative gives them a horror story about their HOW management many, to let them know about us and all the things we offer that would benefit their community.Recommendations have a few recommendations for Elan Management. First, I would suggest root-cause analysis. In root-cause analysis, organizations must identify the root causes of their quality problems and fix them rather than only dealing with the symptoms of the proble ms. In order to get to the root of the problem, Six Sigma should be used. In the Analyze phase, we ask the 5 Whys to get to the root. By starting here, we begin to see what how the problem arose and leading to the next steps o resolve them.Secondly, I would suggest benchmarking which is when the company examines other like companies so they are able to take actions that will lead to performance improvement. Researching your competition is essential as you all are reaching out to the same clients. Whichever company has the better plan or more knowledgeable, better quality product or service will more than likely surpass the others. Elan needs to plan, plan, and plan in order to be successful. Allowing the company to basically move freely without structure is not going to allow Elan to receive the type of clients hey want or even gain more clients.