Organizational Learning And Knowledge

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Question 1

ITOCHU Asia Pte Ltd is an international trading company which belongs to the family of Itochu Corporation that was founded in 1858 by Chubei Itoh. Itochu Corporation is one of the largest globally integrating corporations with officers and operations that cover a board spectrum of industries over 80 countries. The annual revenues of ITOCHU were ranked amount the world’s largest corporations of any types.

The parent Company’s initial focus was on textile trade area. Subsequently, it expanded into other areas from grain and canned goods to aircraft, electronics and services such as foreign exchange and leasing.

Over the years, Itochu Singapore had developed a global professional player with strong regional network. Other than the core business areas in Chemicals, Foodstuffs, Cement & General Merchandise, Aerospace & Machinery, Pulp/Paper and Hygiene products. It also covers other business areas such as Petroleum products, electronics components, plastics products, automotive parts and natural rubber.

Under the Itochu Corporation (the shareholder of Itochu Singapore), the companies in Singapore are as followed:

Subsidiary Companies:

Itochu Systech Singapore Pte Ltd

Itochu Petroleum Company (S) Pte Ltd

Itochu Plastics Pte Ltd

Affiliated Companies:

Marubeni-Itochu Steel Pte Ltd

Marubeni-Itochu Tubular Asia Pte Ltd

Rubbernet Asia Pte Ltd

Itochu has its own Itochu Mission, Values and 5 self-tests to manage their qualities which are as followed:

Mission: (Committed to the Global Good)

The Itochu Group respects the individual, society, and the future in its Commitment to the Global Good.

Values:

Visionary, Integrity, Diversity, Passion and Challenge

5 self-tests:

Am I communicating vision and moving forward with others?

Am I proud to say I am involved in this work?

Am I including the ideas and skills of a variety of people to create the best result?

Am I taking responsibility for and caring intensely about what I am doing?

Am I actively trying new things and pursuing innovative solutions?

Question 2

Cost

With well-designed quality system, it helps Itochu

Differentiation

Focus or another generic strategy

Question 3

Work process that affects quality issues: As Itochu is a trading company; Itochu does not own any products. So the logistics department has to deal with vendors (local and overseas) to support customer’s needs. Sometime due to some unpredictable issues (e.g. documents typo errors, public holidays, person-in-charge not in office and etc.), shipping documents to the customers for clearing the cargos at the destination are usually delayed too especially for the overseas vendors.

5 steps approach of Six Sigma Methodology DMAIC to improve processes. DMAIC stand for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control.

Define Phase – Identify defects

Quality tool: The Affinity Diagram

Surface the issues associated with the defects with Master Black Belts, Black Belts and Green Belts.

Measure Phase – Measures performance

Quality tool: Tree Diagram

Identify the steps to address the given issues from The Affinity Diagram and understand the process. After understanding process, identify the measure of the process.

Analyze Phase – Examine the causes of the identified defects

Quality tool: The Interrelationship Diagraph

Systematically analyze in a complex group of ideas to determine root causes that give defective results from the process.

Improve Phase – Improve the process/ system to be used

Quality tool: Flow Chart

Flowchart exist process and implement/ improve of the solutions that eradicate root causes that raise the defect results.

Control Phase – Monitor the process/ system being applied

Quality tool: The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle

Process to continual improvement, monitor closing to ensure the eradicated root causes will not make a comeback.

Question 4

A quality system is form by collaborating with many different disciplines to a quality improvement. To build a quality improvement requires different disciplines of (People, Organizational learning and knowledge, Culture, Closeness to Customers, Information and finance, The three spheres of quality [Quality Assurance, Quality Planning and Management & Quality Control] and The integrative approach) to create goods and services efficiently serve customer’s needs.

People

In the model of building blocks for the System of Quality Management, people are placed at the very base. This represent that people are the core of the organization capabilities. This people provide understanding and ability to provide excellent customer service and it is people who carry out the improvement and first in priority to have the success quality management.

Organization like Itochu, must let the employees understand that they are belong as a part of the whole system and must made them feel that they are important and necessary to the completeness of the whole for the continuation and the growth of the organization.

Organizational Learning and Knowledge

Organizational Learning and Knowledge is the second block of building blocks for the System of Quality Management. The knowledge is the main aim which helps to accomplish the outstanding quality results. Employees must have the skills and expertise knowledge to carry out the improvement of the quality system effectively.

To create successful quality system, it is important that Itochu needs to provide outstanding knowledge and training to their employees to achieve the outstanding customer service.

Closeness to Customers

Closeness to customers describes the organization use knowledge to accumulate data about customers and analysis and understand customer needs. Employees have to go through the first few blocks of building blocks for the System of Quality Management before it can advocate to closeness to customers.

Itochu should place the employees in facilitate to focus on the customers to analysis the gathered data and able to react the change based on their analyzed results. Customer closeness is extraordinary important as customer retention is closely related to profitability of the organization.

Information and Finance

A well-designed information system evolves to an institutional memory to satisfy customers’ needs. This will help Itochu to identify individual customer efficiently and react rapidly to adjust the change in customer needs.

Financial resources are needed to provide the infrastructure and services will help Itochu in facilitating first class information system to provide customer needs.

Question 5

Quality audit is the process that is carried out by a team of internal or external auditor in a systematic analysing of quality system. Quality audits can be in many forms which depend on one will validate on what area of the quality system. This is usually performed to ensure that the organization had clearly defined the monitoring procedures which linked to an efficient action. This will help the organization to determine the compiling of the system processes to the organization and the involving of procedural.

Certification audits

Certification audits are normally used to remain the certification of ISO 9000:2000, ISO 16000, QS 9000, or others standards. A certification audit is a key fundamental in the ISO quality system standard and it is also an important part of the organization’s quality system too. This audit focuses on documentation of the systems and also adherence to the standards.

Itochu has implemented proper procedures of documentation with well-designed filing system of very documents get from both customers and vendors. Filing system from different customer by month was kept properly throughout the whole year. These documents were kept in the drawer for the purpose of reference/ backup/ audit and etc. issues. This filing system is easy to access and retrieve for any needs.

Certification audits can help Itochu to continue improving the procedures of the documentation to a better outstanding filing system to achieve the effective of quality system while going through this auditing.

Award audits

Practise involve site visits examination to external validate the claims of the applicants in their applications. Award include of Baldrige, Singapore Quality Award, customer wards and etc.

Itochu had standard working procedures no matter to externally (customers and vendors) and internally (within organization – employees to employees). With this award audits it help Itochu and its employees to improve the quality better servicing since the award is profitable to employees who applied for this application.

Question 6

From working on this assignment, the five (5) learning points I have acquired are as shown below:

Analyse Quality

Analyse why quality is important to organization, how it affect with different people and how it is applied in the service to improve to outstanding quality system.

Six Sigma DMAIC

Improve the teams’ use of DMAIC methodology with 5 phases (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, and Control) to improve processes.

Quality Tools

Using the quality tools to continual improvement and eliminate the causes of defects for a issue or situation.

Building Blocks for the System of Quality Management

Different disciplines help improve quality in creating products and services that deliver to customers’ needs.

Type of Audits

Have different type of forms in different areas of quality system for one to validate.