Q1: The group was discussing the project and how we have all started doing some research on our company. We received Mercedes Benz. However, when researching it is difficult to find information on Mercedes as an organization opposed to Daimler. Is it okay to focus more on Mercedes Benz USA? Because, there seems to be more available information on either Daimler or Mercedes Benz USA. Any help would be appreciated, so we can get started on the right track. Thank you!
A1: Using Daimler would make this project too big. If I understand it correctly, the Mercedes-Benz is a division of the Daimler AG company. You may also find other information such as DaimlerChrysler. You could look up the history first to get a better idea. I would like your group to focus on Mercedes-Benz. Try to make it simple and stay focused. You may try the key words such as “Mercedes-Benz Quality System” or “Mercedes-Benz ISO.” You may also use database: Applied Science & Technology Source from the university library, or simply go to the library webpage search info from “Articles & Databases.” You should be able to find a lot of information on Mercedes-Benz. You will find the words “Daimler AG” in most of the documents of Mercedes-Benz, but you may not always find the word Mercedes-Benz in the documents of Daimler AG. You may not be able to find the information that directly fits to this assignment. That’s why I need this assignment in group and have you “study and analyze” its quality management and continuous performance improvement. You can focus on Mercedes Benz USA as long as it helps with your analysis.
Q2: I would like to know if there is a specific case we are to use such as a Harvard Business case? Or should we just find information about the company? Also, I am becoming a bit worried that my group members are not responding to some of the messages left on the group discussion page. Please Advice.
A2: You may also try to email your teammates for your questions. I do not recommend you to do this project by chapters. You need to 1st study this organization and find as much information about its quality and performance improvement as possible. As I said in the class, you can begin with the textbook, and go to the library databases to search appropriate journal articles or news. You will be surprised of how much you could find. You can begin with a list of tasks of how to begin this assignment and ask everybody’s input. It’s not a good idea to divide the project into individual parts without knowing how to do and what to do about this assignment.
Q3: For our case study, we have motorola mobility. I decided to research the customer orientation aspect of it, but I wasn’t sure what you were looking for on this topic. What exactly do I need to research or include in the paper?
A3: I don’t know why you chose customer orientation, but please note that this assignment is to study and analyze the company’s quality management and continuous performance improvement by using the principles, processes, tools, techniques, and/or general knowledge taught in this class. You may check the course schedule on the syllabus to get the ideas of topics we have covered and will be covered in the class and begin the search by those topics in the organization. For example, to begin with, you may ask these questions:
• Does the organization apply quality circle for quality performance improvement?
• Did the organization embed a culture of quality for TQM?
• How did the leadership of top management drive quality? (as your PITT exercise 1)
• Did the organization use feedback or feedforward control for continuous improvement of processes?
• What’s the organizational strategic planning process? (as your PITT exercise 2)
• What quality training curricula the organization has provided to enhance the quality performance? (as your PITT exercise 3)
• Did the organization win the Baldrige Award? (If yes, you can than talk about the criteria of the Baldrige Award they met for winning the Award.)
• Did the organization use SQC, QFD (HQC), or JIT for management of process quality?
• How was the human resource dimension involved in the process control?
These questions are covered in chapter one to six. There will be more to be covered, of course.
Every case is different and not all cases are in the same industry. That’s why I could not provide too narrowed analytical criteria for this assignment. Please refer to the course syllabus and instruction, grading rubric, and FAQ of case study on Blackboard for more detail information. You may set up a conference call or telephone appointment with me if you wish.
Q4: The group members has response to message, but are not willing to meet with me to work on the group project. I have sent out my availability to them to ensure they can schedule an appointment with me. Yet, no one have not replied back … Please tell me how should I proceed? Let me know your thoughts on this and how we should go about completing the group project successfully.
A4: Here are some recommendations for you.
• If you prefer, you may use Skype, Line, or any other applications that provide conference call, video chat, and voice call services to meet with your teammate.
• You may take the leadership position and divide the roles/responsibilities between you and your teammate. You could offer your thoughts first and see if he/she agrees and go from there. This way, you will have at last some progress.
• Please read the FAQs, instruction, grading rubric carefully (all available on Blackboard) again and make sure you meet all the criteria.
• As I said in the class last week (3/24), you may use the class activity work sheet (Section one review) to help you working on this project. Think about what techniques, strategies, models, principles, etc. we covered so far could be used to analyze the organization – this is the primary purpose of this assignment.
• Please watch the Tegrity video last class carefully. We had some great discussions and QAs in class about this project.
• Do not follow the chapters in the textbook to work on this project because every organization is different.
• You may also need to set a schedule for the group. Note that the deadline for group case study is on April 21, and the due date for 5th-7th PITT exercises is only a week before which is April 14. Please manage your time well on these assignments.
