Page 407 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

394 M a n a g e m e n t o f H u m a n R e s o u r c e s R e s o u r c e R e q u i r e m e n t s t o M a n a g e t h e Q u a l i t y F u n c t i o n 395

Professional Development Courses
Ongoing professional development can be obtained through in-house or
public seminars. In-house training is typically conducted by staff person-
nel, or by purchasing the service from outside sources. In-house courses
can be scheduled at the company’s con venience and can be tailored to the
company’s specific needs. Because all of the attendees of in-house training
programs are from the same organization, discussions can focus on issues
that are relevant to the company. Also, the par ticipants bring a common
background to the sessions that reduces the amount of time spent explain-
ing the examples to “outsiders.” In-house courses can be significantly
lower in terms of per-person registration fees, and the savings in travel
expenses can be considerable. To be cost effective, a minimum attend ance
is usually necessary.
In-house training also has some disadvantages. If it is conducted on-
site, participants may be interrupted. The fact that all participants are from
the same company limits the opportunity to share ideas and experiences
with oth ers from different backgrounds. Unless there are a significant
number of atten dees, it may be less cost-effective than public seminars.

Goals and Objectives
Performance goal setting is an important activity that is closely related to
quality improvement. Goals set for departments, teams, or individuals
should be linked to the organization’s mission, purpose, and strategic
plans. Goals should not be set in a vacuum. The test of the value of a par-
ticular goal is that it moves the entire organization toward its mission. A
goal that, if met by one area of the organization, causes difficulty in another
area, is not valid, for example, a purchasing department that sets a goal of
reducing the cost of pur chased material without regard to its impact on
quality, production schedules, etc. One way to safeguard against inadver-
tently setting such goals is to involve the customer in the goal-setting pro-
cess. Goal setting is also integral to performance evaluation. To be useful,
goals should conform to certain guidelines (Johnson, 1993b):

• Goals should be specific and measurable. Vague goals mean different
things to different people. “Improve customer satisfaction” is a
vague goal. “Improve customer satisfaction as indicated by a
significant improvement in item #30 on the monthly customer
survey” is better.
• Goals should be challenging, yet realistic. All parties should agree that the
goal is attain able, and that they would derive personal satisfaction
from having attained it.
• Goals should be written. Goals should be consistent—goals should
not contradict other goals. It should be possible to attain the entire
set of goals simultaneously.

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