ROFO principle generates ownership, commitment and team learning – mindset change before implementing total quality management

Abstract

The basic concept of producing quality products dates back to a few centuries ago. It can be said that it began with master craftsmen and artists who delivered masterpieces all solely through their efforts. They worked and inspected their products themselves. In the process, they were very proud of their work. They took full ownership for the output of their efforts. This full ownership concept was replaced by the principles of scientific management which advocated division of labour [Taylor, F.W. (1911). The principles of scientific management. New York: Harper and Row]. Each is responsible for what they are supposed to do and this gives rise to the ‘responsibility’ mindset. In a simple analogy, it means what is within my fence, I will do and what is outside is for others to do. If the existing mindset of an organisation is not right, no amount of effort will make total quality management (TQM) implementation successful. The responsibility mindset is still alive, and as researched by Dayton [(2003). The demise of total quality management (TQM). The TQM magazine, 15(6)], quality and production managers are responsible for quality and production matters, respectively. Dahlgaard, Chen, Jang, Banegas, and Dahlgaard-Park (2013) concluded that to be successful in business excellence, the right organisational culture backed up by core values is necessary. Most CEOs (chief executive officers) do not understand that a right mindset must be nurtured first before embarking on TQM. The right mindset can be achieved through the ROFO principle. It can start with a simple task such as fixing a broken tap. Organisations that have difficulty in fixing simple problems would face even more challenges in executing TQM. In the absence of the right mindset, CEOs execute TQM using a top-down approach which is unsustainable. Included in this paper is an example of a company which had implemented the ROFO principle so successfully that its entire quality department was disbanded.

Keywords:

• ROFO
• ownership
• team learning
• commitment and TQM