The aim of quality management (QM) is to ensure that all components of an organization, its stakeholders and partners, are integrated and operating together in a way that improves that organization’s culture, processes, services, and products. For public Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies, the goal of QM is effective dual customer service delivery leading to the long-term success of eligible individuals with disabilities in competitive integrated employment. This section of the VRTAC-QM website is designed to give an initial summary of widely known industry-recognized QM models and systems to help you decide which may be best to assist your efforts to enhance QM in your agency. The QM guides provide an overview of the QM system, a description of some of the tools, and possible relevance to VR to help you identify those you may wish to explore further. Each has its unique characteristics, strengths, and limitations. Some are known to have been used by VR agencies while others have not been.
It is important to remember that these QM systems and models are not, of themselves, “the solution” to bring about quality management. These are but tools that require a user to employ them to their designed ends. Selecting a model “tool” that aligns with your QM objectives and goals does matter. However, keep in mind that it is the effort and energy of those who are using the tool that matters most. Stated differently, though important, it may not matter as much what tool you choose as it matters that agency staff is committed to the effort and labor of utilizing whatever tool you choose consistently over the long term to bring about desired quality management results.
- ISO 9000
International Standards on Quality Management (ISO) 9000 is defined as a set of international standards on quality management and quality assurance developed to help companies effectively document the quality system elements needed to maintain an efficient quality system. They are not specific to any one industry and can be applied to organizations of any size. - Kouzes and Posner: The Leadership Challenge
Kouzes and Posner's The Leadership Challenge focuses on individual leadership skills. Leadership is addressed with the identification of five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. - Lean Six Sigma
Lean Six Sigma is a quality management method that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste and reducing variation. It combines lean manufacturing/lean enterprise (focus on waste reduction) and Six Sigma (focus on reducing process variation) to eliminate the eight kinds of waste. - Malcolm Baldridge Criteria for Performance Excellence
The Malcolm Baldrige Model of Performance Excellence is a framework for organizational continuous improvement. The main values and concepts foundational to the Baldrige model include but are not limited to systems perspective, visionary leadership, customer-focused excellence, agility and resilience, management by fact, and innovation. - Value Chain Analysis
The Value Chain is a set of activities that describe the processes of how an organization delivers a product or a service. Value chain analysis provides businesses a visual model of these activities, which consists of five Primary Activities. - AGILE
Agile is a model for software engineering that emerged in the early 2000s. Public service organizations have adopted aspects of the model when implementing technology projects and in the delivery of digital services and in procurement processes. - 5th Discipline
Peter Senge 5th Discipline is an Organizational Learning model that offers a vision of workplaces built around learning. The model focuses on five disciplines, three levels of explanations, seven learning constraints, and nine system archetypes which will help practicing Systems Thinking. - Total Quality Management
The Total Quality Management (TQM) system focuses on the customer with long-term success measured through customer satisfaction. TQM is designed to be a dynamic process where all staff in the organization are involved in continual improvement of processes, products, services, and organizational culture to enhance quality.