Tool

Force-Field Analysis

What It Is

What to Use It For

How to Use It

Example

A method for listing, discussing, and dealing with the forces that
make possible or obstruct a change you want to make. The forces that
help you achieve the change are called driving forces, and the forces
that work against the change are called restraining forces.

¢ Determining if a solution can get needed support
* Identifying obstacles to execution

¢ Suggesting actions for reducing the strength of the obstacles

Step 1. Draw a force-field chart (a large 7).
Step 2. Write the current situation at the top center of the chart.
Step 3. Write the desired situation at the top right of the chart.

Step 4. Brainstorm for driving forces (pushing toward what you
want) and enter them on the left side of the chart.

Step 5. Brainstorm for restraining forces (preventing you from get-
ting what you want) and enter them on the right side of the
chart.

Step 6. Discuss the chart and determine which factors could be al-
tered to increase the chances of success.

Step 7. Decide whether your solution is doable. If it is, make a list
of action items to alter the forces. If it isn’t, develop another
solution.

At Morton’s Service Agency, a team was formed to try to resolve the
problem of customers not receiving information they requested at the
time of calling. The team decided that, while they could not ensure
that a customer could reach a specific person, there could be a way to
help ensure that the caller would get the needed information.

One solution they were considering was to develop a division direc-
tory identifying key people in various areas of expertise, as well as
back-up people in each of those areas. Before presenting their solu-
tion to management, the team used force-field analysis to identify
obstacles to implementing their solution to increase the likely success
of their implementation plan.

16 Total Quality Management Opi


Continuous
Improvement

Preventing and Innovating

Dimensions

OAR needs to do things better tomorrow than it did yesterday and be
constantly on the lookout for ways to correct flaws, prevent prob-
lems, and make improvements. Through continuous improvements,
organizations foster creativity and breakthroughs that increase their
credibility with their customers.

1. Prevention and problem solving

Goal: OAR stresses prevention rather than temporary fixes and
seeks to learn from mistakes.

2. Participative management

Goal: We are encouraged to discuss work problems in an open
way and to participate actively in decisions on how to do things
better.

3, Initiative and risk taking

Goal: Even when things are working well, we are encouraged to
make improvements. All progress requires taking calculated risks
and creative initiatives. Management fosters a climate in which
initiative and prudent risk taking are accepted and necessary
parts of the way work is done at OAR.

Making TQM Relevant

OAR, in cooperation with the regions, has established a new manage-
ment accountability process to assist the regions in implementing the
Clean Air Act and other air and radiation program priorities. The pro-
cess is called the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). The first step
calls for senior managers to establish national and program-specific
priorities which are combined in OAR’s program-specific guidance.
Regions then translate OAR’s guidance into state grant agreements
including commitments and schedules to accomplish Agency priori-
ties. (There is flexibility in choosing which priorities to support.) The
region’s MOAs are submitted to OAR program offices for review.

10 Total Quality Management Opi


Tool

Why Technique

What It Is

What to Use It For

How to Use It

Example

A simple yet effective way to move through layers of causes to get at
the preventable root cause of a recurring problem.

The why technique can help you find the root cause of a problem.
You begin by asking why a problem occurs, and then repeatedly ask-
ing why that problem happened, until you have settled on a final,
most important cause.

Step 1. Select a recurring problem.

Step 2. Ask “Why did the problem occur?” to uncover the first-
layer causes.

Step 3. Take the causes that you uncovered in step 2 and ask “Why
did they happen?” to uncover the second-layer causes.

Step 4. Continue asking why the previous causes happened until
you believe you have uncovered the most important, root
cause,

The why technique can be used to uncover a number of causes at each
level. In the example that follow, a single cause is given at each level
to illustrate the chain of events revealed by the why technique.

Late Delivery of Projects

Problem .
Recently, a number of projects have been delivered late.

Why did the problem occur? (first-layer cause)

Despite our best efforts, we were not able to complete those projects
on time. We’re spread too thin. It seems as though we’ ve got way too
many projects for the number of people in the department.

Why did that occur? (second-layer cause)
Productivity is down, and employees are calling in sick every day.

Why did that occur? (third-layer cause)
Our employees have been doing way too much overtime in the last
six months—they’re getting burned out.

20 Total Quality Management Opi


Overview

Total Quality Management—Making It Relevant

Introduction by William G. Rosenberg

Total quality management (TQM) is a way to get work done—better.
More specifically at OAR, quality is creating windows of opportunity
to achieve significant environmental results. This includes creating an
effective coalition through outreach and guidance to the public and
other stakeholders to ensure the passage of regulations. Let me tell
you why all of this is extremely relevant to everyone at EPA, espe-
cially now. In a Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll released in Au-
gust, 1991 eight out of ten Americans identified themselves as
“environmentalists.” A recent Roper Poll reported that 85 percent of
all Americans are seriously concerned about the environment. If we
are to deliver on our promise to be the first line of defense in prevent-
ing and solving environmental problems, we have to find a better way
to do what we already do well.

President Bush called OAR’s Clean Air Act “the most significant air
pollution legislation in our nation’s history.” Our unique challenge is
to implement that demanding legislation successfully while also mov-
ing forward on an ambitious agenda for indoor air quality, and radon
and radiation protection. This presents a challenge unprecedented in
the Agency’s history, and an opportunity to put in place an environ-
mental legacy of which we can be proud. That’s where a commonly
shared approach to work can help. I’ve discovered that TQM is nei-
ther mystery nor magic. It is a set‘of quality principles and common-
sense tools and techniques. The quality principles are

Customer focus

Total involvement
Measurement

Systematic support
Continuous improvement

eevee

They provide a blueprint to develop a coordinated strategy, driven by
top management, aimed at harnessing resources and focusing their
use to achieve organizational goals. The tools and techniques are nu-
merous and flexible. They can help us continue to do right things
right more easily. It’s very possible that you’re “doing TQM” already
and just not calling it that.

Some months ago, the members of OAR’s executive staff were
trained in and used the quality principles, tools, and techniques to
analyze how we’ ve gotten work done over the past few years. We
talked about what we’ve done well and why, and what we need to do
better. As a result of this work, we initiated a number of projects
aimed at improving critical processes within OAR. The offices

1 Total Quality Management Opi


Keep in Mind

Morton Service Agency’s Force-Field Analysis of Caller
Satisfaction

Current Situation Desired Situation
Callers do not get Directory to facilitate
information requested information access
on first call
Driving Forces Restraining Forces
Agency cares about
customers
Difficult to keep directory current
enough to be useful
Agency wants to practice

what it preaches
Questions will likely go beyond
information in the directory

Low cost due to desktop
publishing
Employees who receive customer
calls may not understand directory
a,
Management support

The team decided that an important restraining force was the basic
difficulty of keeping any directory current. They decided to put the
directory in a format that could easily accommodate changes. They
also decided to come to their weekly meetings prepared to do a quick
update of any changes.

In order to address the restraining force of questions likely to go be-
yond information in the directory, the group decided to keep a log
next to the phone to be filled in any time the directory was insuffi-
cient to help direct the caller to a person who could be of help. They
planned to make necessary additions to the directory based on the
log.

* You should always finish a force-field analysis by making a list
of action items.

¢ If restraining forces are too overwhelming, consider a different
* solution.

17 Total Quality Management ODi


High Personnel Turnover Fishbone

People Machines

recruitmen
of administrative

Materials Methods

The group decided to display their thinking in a very visible, acces-
sible area and invited others in the agency to add to or change the
categories and items. They determined that the primary causes over
which they had control were in the area of methods. They were then
able to gather further data to clearly identify the primary causes of the
problem and to work on solutions.

Keep in Mind ¢ The most commonly used categories of causes are people,
machines, methods, and materials.

¢ The fishbone diagram only shows possible causes. If in doubt,
check your ideas with data.

¢ In most cases, it is not of great importance where on the diagram
you put a particular cause.

¢ Fishbone diagrams are very useful when displayed publicly. You
can invite people to add causes, and you can show what progress
is being made in eliminating the causes.

* You may want to make a second or third fishbone diagram based
on the first fishbone diagram.

23 Total Quality Management ODi


Action Plan for Educating the Congressional Control
Office

Action to Date People Resources| Special
Be Taken |Completed| Respon- | Method | "Needed s
Gather data] 10/30 Sam le Develop Desktop + Data
to determine| Myra survey publishing } analysis
necessary le Pilot assistance
|components| survey le Advice on
of training le Conduct survey
survey questions
Develop 11/30 Sally | Follow
training ’ Roy model
program used in
telephone
training
program
Print 12/15 Rita Publishing | Check le Editing
training Joe Depart- with assistance
booklets ment Publishing |* Lowest
possible
cost
Provide list 11/30 Ralph Check with]
of people Mark
to be at Control
trained Office
Arrange 12/5 Jim ls Find Help from | Lowest
for location Sally and | possible
training le Organize | Roy in cost
logistics supplies identifying
le Coordinate] needs
times
Conduct 12/24 Sally Experien- |* Flipcharts | Correct
training Roy tial, using |* Markers number
cases le Training of chairs
booklets | around
s Note paper tables
le Pencils put into
square

Keep In Mind © Put the action plan in writing.

* Don’t worry about filling in the columns one at a time. The parts
* of the action plan can be filled out in any order.

* You can use a flowchart to show the sequence of activities.

19 Total Quality Management ODi


Keep in Mind ¢ Seta time limit for the brainstorming session.

* Offer ideas only when it’s your turn. Between turns, write down
ideas so you don’t forget them.

¢ Any idea is acceptable, even if it seems silly, strange, or similar
to a previous idea. Some of the best ideas are simply variations
on what somebody else just said.

* Say “pass” if you don’t have an idea on your turn.

* Never criticize, question, or even praise others’ ideas during the
brainstorming session.

14 Total Quality Management Opi


Making TQM Relevant

“It’s a better situation when people who are adversaries can sit down
at the table and talk about it rather than throw bricks at each other in
courtrooms and the press.”

Urvan R. Sternfels, President

National Petroleum Refiners Association

New York Times, September 23, 1991

“U.S. Agencies Use Negotiations to Pre-empt Lawsuits Over Rules”

6 Total Quality Management ODi


¢ The information in the Pareto diagram can tell you where to
focus in solving the problem. If the diagram does not give you
enough information to proceed to solutions, it may still suggest
what to investigate next. Typical next steps are a fishbone

diagram, a flowchart, or more Pareto diagrams (based on new
data).

26 Total Quality Management Opi


Introduction

The Quality Principles

For the principles of quality to become the way we get work done at
OAR, we have to break out of established ways of thinking and act-
ing. Accomplishing breakthrough regulations can be aided by knowl-
edge of and dedication to the five basic principles—or pillars—of
quality.

¢ Customer focus

Total involvement
Measurement

Systematic support
Continuous improvement

ceee

These five principles, each with three corresponding dimensions, are
explained in detail on the pages that follow.

The Quality Advantage

| Customer Focus

Continuous Improvement

Total Involvement
Measurement

| Systematic Support

|
)
l

1 i 1 f 1 t 1

Organizational Values

3 Total Quality Management ODi


throughout OAR have been asked to develop their own plans to pro-
vide improvement opportunities for you. You should be hearing more
details about local plans and efforts soon.

However, you don’t need permission or approval to work better now.
There are a number of actions you can take individually to help OAR
deliver on its commitment to quality.

1. Educate yourself on the quality principles. This document should
help.

2. Identify those constituents or clients who receive the outputs of
your work. In a true sense, these people are your customers.
Even if they are regulated constituencies, they should be satisfied
with your working relationship and have an understanding of
what’s expected of them. In other words, they should feel able to
work with what you give them. (This is not to say they will be
happy!) Experiment with the alignment questions under the cus-
tomer focus principle to help in your negotiations.

3. Try the seven quality tools detailed in this document—brain-
storming, multivoting, force-field analysis, action plan, why tech-
nique, fishbone diagram, and pareto analysis. These tools will
help you expedite meetings, make decisions, identify obstacles to
change, ensure accountability, and find root causes of problems
getting in the way of constituent satisfaction.

An environmentally awakened American public has provided impe-
tus for the Clean Air Act. You can bet that they are not going back to
sleep and that they will continue to drive far-reaching regulatory
change. In the months and years ahead, OAR needs to be ready to
play an even bigger role in creating windows of opportunity for sig-
nificant environmental improvement.

2 Total Quality Management Opi


Tool

Multivoting

What It Is

What to Use It For

How to Use It

Example

Keep in Mind

A technique for narrowing down a list of ideas or options. It is used
in conjunction with brainstorming.

Selecting a problem, topic for data collection, solution, or item to

monitor

Step 1.

Step 2.

Step 3.

Step 4.

Use brainstorming to generate a list of topics. Have one
person record the ideas on a flipchart. Review and clarify
each idea. With the consent of the group, similar ideas can
be combined.

Have each member assign ten points to one or more of the
ideas (e.g., team members can assign all ten points to one
idea, five to one and five to another, one to each idea, or
any other combination).

Ask team members to record their points for each idea on a
separate Post-it note and to place the Post-it note next to the
idea on the flipchart, or have team members call out their
votes in turn.

Tally the votes for each idea. Narrow down the list to the
four to six ideas that received the most votes.

The team that brainstormed a wish list for the new Agency lunch-
room wanted to narrow down their list of ideas from seventeen to
five. Each team member was assigned ten points with which to vote
for the topics. Here is the resulting list.

Running water and sink (4) Soft drink machine (6)
Relaxing music (1) High-capacity coffee maker (8)
Tables and chairs (10) Refrigerator (12)

Microwave oven (6) Toaster (3)
Chandelier/candlelight Linen tablecloths

Full-time attendant Fruit-juice fountain

Food delivery service Free bagels and cream cheese
Massage lounge chairs Multi-beverage dispenser

Recycling containers (10)

+ . Feel free to distribute your votes in any way you like.

¢ To preserve anonymity, multivoting can also be done by written
ballot (sometimes called nominal group technique).

15 Total Quality Management ODI


Customer-Supplier Alignment

Alignment, or the matching of supplier capabilities with customer
needs, is a requisite of meeting their requirements. The process of
alignment begins with a redefinition of the customer-supplier rela-
tionship. Rather than seeing each other as adversaries trying to take
advantage of each other, customers and suppliers work together as
collaborators to achieve alignment. That collaboration must also help
promote the overall goals of OAR.

OAR
Goals

Supplier Capabilities

Customer Needs

To help build customer-supplier alignment, identify your own cus-
tomers and suppliers and meet with them to discuss and agree upon
requirements. Try asking the following questions:

* What do you need from me?

¢ What do you do with what I give you?

¢ Are there any gaps between what I give you and what you need?

5 Total Quality Management Oni ,


Why did that occur? (fourth-layer cause)

One big reason is that the computer network is always going down.
This causes repeated work stoppages and even lost files, which must
then be re-created from scratch. Also, file transfers are very slow
over the network, which causes work delays. Basically, it’s taking
our employees longer and longer to do less and less work.

Why did that occur? (fifth-layer cause)

We’ ve outgrown our computer network. MIS tells us that we are now
running 132 terminals over a network designed to handle 100 work-
stations, maximum.

21 Total Quality Management ODI


400 R-92-004
March 1992

Total Quality Management
Making It Relevant

Air And
Radiation
(ANR-443)

Environmental Protection

United States
Agency

EPA

) ay

—,



Measurement

Monitoring Quality

Dimensions

é

OAR cannot meet quality goals unless it establishes baselines and
charts progress against them. Deciding what to measure should be
heavily influenced by client requirements.

1. Self-measurement

Goal: We verify the quality of our own work rather than depend
on others to inspect for quality. We seek and receive regular
feedback from our managers. Teams keep records on their efforts
to improve quality.

2. Measures of work

Goal: OAR has a consistent set of quality measurement stan-
dards that are reevaluated periodically. Work groups monitor
how well they’ re following work procedures and track indicators
that can give them early warning of problems. OAR collects in-
formation on the extent to which timely corrections are made.

3. Measures of user feedback

Goal: Work groups measure how well they meet the needs of
those who depend on them. They seek and receive regular feed-
back from their clients. Problems are reported quickly to allow
for speedy correction.

Making TQM Relevant

The OAQPS (Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards) is in the
process of developing a TQM project to evaluate current environ-
mental progress indicators. The current environmental trends report is
viewed as a useful document, but it only addresses the six pollutants
that have national ambient air quality standards. This assessment will
seek to improve the quality of the indicators currently being used and
to provide a vehicle for improving OAR-wide communications rela-
tive to environmental quality improvements. New indicators will also
assist us in measuring progress relative to the implementation of the
Clean Air Act, assist in identifying gaps in our knowledge base, and
help us to see the long-term picture. OAQPS intends to invite partici-
pation from all OAR offices for this project.

8 Total Quality Management Opi


Total Involvement Taking Responsibility for Quality .

Quality is not just the responsibility of management or quality con-
trol. Everyone in OAR must be involved in achieving quality.

Dimensions 1. Top-down leadership

Goal: Quality principles are driven by senior management and
administered by middle management. Management demonstrates
its commitment to the principles by educating themselves, pro-
viding resources and support for improvement activities, and
visibly using and supporting the process and tools in its own
work. Quality is as important as budget or schedule on the scale
of organizational priorities.

2. Bottom-up employee involvement

Goal: Employees at all levels are encouraged to take part in for-
mal and informal, individual, and team-based quality improve-
ment activities. Suggestions for improvement from lower levels
are given serious consideration.

3. Side-to-side integration

Goal: There is coordination among work units and across func-
tions. Teams composed of people from different areas tackle
common problems collaboratively. External suppliers are part of
quality improvement efforts.

Making TQM Relevant

The OPPE (Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation) has initiated
four TQM pilot projects on work planning, the performance appraisal
process, office space, and financial management and tracking. A fifth
project will be added soon on the value added by the regulatory re-
view process. Senior managers meet on a regular basis to establish
and track the progress of these initiatives. Status reports and TQM

_ implementation planning are conducted on a periodic basis and pre-
sented in thirty-minute sessions added to the Assistant Administra-
tor’s weekly staff meetings. These sessions ensure the active partici-
pation and involvement of senior management and employ the tools
and concepts of TQM.

7 Total Quality Management ODI


Conclusion

Your Role

The American public will continue to challenge EPA to live up to its
role as their first line of defense in preventing and solving environ-
mental problems. Your role in meeting those challenges includes tak-
ing personal responsibility for continuously improving the way you
work—day to day. If you are a manager, your role also includes
granting amnesty to the people with whom you work. All employees
must be free to speak the truth and to take risks in the interest of the
greater good of the Agency and the public that we serve.

No one will hold your hand. Empowerment comes from within. It is
easy and perhaps even reasonable to assume that one person can’t
make a difference . . . except, we all know someone who did!

27 Total Quality Management Opi


Customer Focus

Meeting Requirements

Dimensions

z
3

Within OAR, we supply services, products, and information to one
another. These exchanges link us as internal customers and suppliers.
We can better meet the needs of our final, external customers when
we work to meet the requirements of our internal customers.

1, External customer orientation

Goal: OAR employees know who uses our services and
products. We also know what those constituencies do with the
outputs we supply.

2. Internal customer orientation

Goal: OAR employees understand that we are customers of and
suppliers to others within OAR. We understand that satisfying
internal customer-supplier requirements affects the quality of the
services and products provided to our external clients.

3. Trends in customer satisfaction

Goal: OAR employees understand that the final judges of quality
are the clients who use our outputs. We are concerned with the
trends in their satisfaction. OAR places a high priority on being
close to clients—responding to their needs, and dealing quickly
and effectively with their problems.

Making TQM Relevant

AIRS (Aerometric Information Retrieval System) is a good example
of a quality improvement initiative sensitive to external customer
concerns and needs. It is designed to be a user-friendly source of data
and documentation on ambient air quality and point source emissions.
AIRS represents a consolidation of a variety of existing systems. The
improvements were driven, in part, by input from its users—the
States, the regions, and local sources. Some of the input was received
at the annual user conference—an important forum for soliciting cus-
tomer-focused ideas for continuous improvement. AIRS is operated
by the Technical Support Division of the Office of Air Quality Plan-
ning and Standards.

4 Total Quality Management Opi


Tool

Action Plan

What It Is

What to Use It For

How to Use It

Example

An outline of who will do what, when, and by what methods. It en-
sures that nothing is left to chance as you set out to implement a new
way of doing things.

¢ Planning the implementation of a solution

* Coordinating data collection

Create a chart that shows your plans in an organized way. Include
answers to the six questions below.

1. What needs to be done (i.e., specific tasks, arrangements, etc.)?

2. When does each task need to be done (do some tasks need to be
completed before others; when should each task be finished)?

3. Who will do each task?
4. How will it be done (i.e., specific methods)?

5. What resources are needed (i.e., materials, equipment, expert
advice, etc.)?

6. Are there special circumstances or needs that should be taken
into account?

A committee interested in a more efficient and productive system for
responding to congressionals decided that one action they needed to
take was to educate the people in the Congressional Control Office
about the best procedures for responses. They developed the action
plan on the next page.

18 Total Quality Management ODi


Tool

Pareto Analysis

What It Is

What to Use It For

How to Use It

Example

A bar chart (Pareto diagram) that visually represents the distribution
of occurrences being studied. The most frequent occurrence is repre-
sented at the far left, with other occurrences represented in descend-
ing order to the right.

Identifying the one or two situation categories in which most of your
problems occur

Step 1. Define the categories to be used in your diagram.

Step 2. Sort the data into categories. Arrange the categories in de-
scending order as defined by the data.

Step 3. Make a bar graph based on the data, with the highest cat-
egory on the left.

Step 4. Check your diagram for a Pareto pattern (in which the high-
est categories are responsible for most of the effects).

Step 5. Use the Pareto diagram as a guide to action or to further
analysis.

A division of Morton’s Service Agency was interested in determining
the most frequent concerns expressed by customers when they called
the agency for information. The division formed a representative
QAT in which they determined what they needed to know and devel-
oped a survey to gather the information. They then polled a random
sampling of customers over a one-week period and charted the results
on a Pareto diagram.

24 Total Quality Management Opi


Contents

Total Quality Management—Making It Relevant

Overview: TQM—Making It Relevant

Introduction: The Quality Principles 3
Customer Focus: Meeting Requirements 4
Total Involvement: Taking Responsibility for Quality 7
Measurement: Monitoring Quality 8
Systematic Support: Leading and Reinforcing 9
Continuous Improvement: Preventing and Innovating 10
Introduction: Quality Tools 12
Tool: Brainstorming 13
Tool: Multivoting 15
Tool: Force-Field Analysis 16
Tool: Action Plan 18
Tool: Why Technique 20
Tool: Fishbone Diagram 22
Tool: Pareto Analysis 24
Conclusion: Your Role 27
Total Quality Management ODi


The offices negotiate any differences and the AA for OAR and the
RA for each region sign the MOA. The OAR program offices are
responsible for tracking regions’ progress in meeting their commit-
ments. The advantages of this process over the previous process
include

¢ Explicit national program goals and expectations

* Top-down leadership in setting Agency priorities

* A plan of action to meet priority commitments

¢ A Streamlined review/approval process

¢ Assigned responsibility for tracking progress

11 Total Quality Management ODi


Tool

Brainstorming

What It Is

What to Use It For

How to Use It

Example

A technique for generating a list of ideas about an issue.

¢ Generating lists of

Problems

Topics for data collection
Potential solutions

Items to monitor

* Anywhere you want multiple ideas and/or more group energy
Step 1. Decide on a topic (such as “problem ideas” or “ideas for
solutions”).
Step 2. Have each member in turn offer an idea about the topic.
Other members should refrain from any comment, listen
carefully, and build on each other’s ideas.

Step 3. Have one person record all the ideas on a flipchart.

Step 4. Continue the process until the team feels it has exhausted its
ideas on the topic.

Step 5. Discuss and clarify the ideas on the list.
A problem-solving team used this tool to come up with a “wish list”

for the new Agency lunchroom. Six people got together and gener-
ated the following list of ideas:

Running water and sink Soft drink machine

Relaxing music High-capacity coffee maker
Tables and chairs Refrigerator

Microwave oven Toaster
Chandelier/candlelight Linen tablecloths

Full-time attendant Fnuit-juice fountain

Food delivery service Free bagels and cream cheese
Massage lounge chairs Multi-beverage dispenser
Recycling containers

13 Total Quality Management Opi


©1992
by Organizational Dynamics, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved

The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose
without the written permission of the publisher, Organizational Dynamics, Inc. (ODI),
Twenty-Five Mall Road, Burlington, Massachusetts, 01803.


Tool

Fishbone Diagram

What It Is

What to Use It For

How to Use It

Example

A diagram showing a large number of possible causes for a problem.
Detailed causes are attached to a small number of main causes so that
the completed diagram looks something like the skeleton of a fish.

* Getting the big picture of a problem

¢ Facilitating team members’ use of their personal knowledge to
identify causes of the problem

¢ Providing ideas for data collection and/or solutions

Step 1. Write the problem on the right side of a flipchart. Draw a
large arrow that points toward the problem.

Step 2. Draw arrows indicating the main types of causes (or con-
tributing factors) and pointing toward the central arrow.

Step 3. Brainstorm for specific causes. Attach each specific cause
to an appropriate main cause.

Step 4. Break down the causes further by brainstorming for
subcauses.

The most commonly used categories of causes are people, machines,
methods, and materials. These categories usually apply to a wide
range of problems, and using them guarantees that most of the rel-
evant causes will be put into the diagram. Some other possibilities
include policies, procedures, and environment.

At the top of the next page you will see an example of how fishbone
analysis was used at the Jefferson Health Services Agency to identify
the causes for the high turnover rate of personnel. Using the catego-
ries of people, machines, materials, and methods, a team of supervi-
sors identified possible causes.

22 Total Quality Management Opi


Total Quality Management—
Making It Relevant
EPA-OAR


Keep in Mind

Most Frequent Customer Telephone Complaints

1204
1104
100 7
0-4
8074
g 77
do
5044
40 4 Ao%
3.
- 3074
i 207 21%
2 wo 15%
11% | 10%
Person Didn't get Nobody else Leftmessage _Not told
requested information tried to but callnot that person
unavailable requested help retumed requested
was
unavailable
for two
Category of Complaints weeks

The QAT found the results very helpful. The top category (43 per-
cent) was that the person requested by the caller was unavailable.
Realizing that the agency could not always control availability, they
combined that category with the second highest, that the caller did
not get the information requested (21 percent). They decided that the
callers who could not speak directly with the person requested could
at least be helped with necessary information by someone else.
Therefore, the QAT decided to determine solutions for helping cus-
tomers get the information requested on the first call.

¢ Find appropriate categories by asking the questions what, where,
when, who, why, and how.

* Most problems require more than one Pareto diagram, each
exploring a different question.

* Draw the diagrams you want before you begin to collect data.
Include the subcategories and a unit of measure.

25 Total Quality Management Oni


Systematic Support

Leading and Reinforcing

Dimensions

All systems in OAR, such as planning, budgeting, scheduling, and
performance management, need to support the quality effort.

‘L Training and resources

Goal: OAR provides the resources and education needed to im-
prove quality. Employees are given the time to be trained, and
the tools and support necessary to apply our new skills to our
jobs.

2. Recognition and rewards

Goal: OAR demonstrates its commitment to quality by recogniz-
ing and rewarding those who work to improve the quality of
products, services, and work processes. Employees who strive
for quality have a better chance for advancement.

3. Policies and procedures

Goal: The rules and procedures by which OAR operates help to
produce quality. Obsolete policies, redundant approval steps, and
other structural barriers are removed in the interest of client
focus.

Making TQM Relevant

The OAR (Office of Air and Radiation) ran orientation programs for
approximately four hundred new hires in fiscal 1990 and again in
1991. These programs were designed to provide the tools and contact
information new hires need to help ensure their success as Agency
employees. Part of the activities included meeting with top-level
managers and staff who helped provide the “big picture” —right up
front. The orientation also included a series of workshops on techni-
cal and human resource issues. These initiatives mark the beginning
of proactive, systematic efforts to address the issue of staff develop-
ment and support.

9 Total Quality Management ODi


Introduction

Quality Tools

Training will be made available to you on a local level as specific
processes are identified as improvement opportunities. The training
will include a variety of tools and techniques to use at varying phases
of a problem-solving process. We’ ve included seven commonly used
tools here. We hope you’ll try these out with your colleagues. Any
new procedure will be awkward and time consuming at first. Please,
try them more than once to get a sense of the way they can help you
get work done.

The tools we’ ve included are

¢ Brainstorming: A technique for generating a list of ideas about
an issue.

° Multivoting: A technique for narrowing down a list of ideas or
options.

¢ Force-field analysis: A method for listing, discussing, and
dealing with the forces that make possible or obstruct a change
you want to make.

‘e Action plan: An outline of who will do what, when, and by what
methods. It ensures that nothing is left to chance as you set out to
implement a new way of doing things.

« Why technique: A simple yet effective way to move through
layers of causes to get at the preventable root cause of a recurring
problem.

¢ Fishbone diagram: A diagram showing a large number of
possible causes for a problem.

* Pareto analysis: A bar chart (Pareto diagram) that visually
represents the distribution of occurrences being studied.

12 Total Quality Management Opi