Introduction
An efficient quality management allows achieving goals of the organization with optimal costs and at specified time intervals. Such a system implies, as a rule, strictly ordered and regulated activities that should be understandable both for managers and employees. In this regard, the paper aims to examine key concepts of the quality management term and consider the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) example.
Challenges and Benefits of Quality Improvement Programmes
As a matter of fact, the quality management is the process of exposure of the subject to the object of control by performing administrative functions taking into account feedback from the object that can be estimated by Statistical Quality Control (SQC) techniques (Filho & Uzsoy 2014). Among the best-known representatives of the quality, the requirements for which are enshrined in international ISO standards there is a quality management system (QMS). International Organization for Standardization sets the ISO 9000 standard of quality that assumes comprehensible quality. In addition, Six Sigma tool might be applied in assessing the efficiency (Faint 2011).
The continuous improvement strategy is considered one of the most effective to establish permanent objectives for the organization. This principle determines the need for continuous development of the organization. Despite the fact that it requires both financial and operational resources, benefits justify the costs. Paramount benefits of the implementation of this principle are as follows:
- Obtaining benefits by increasing the capacity of the organization (Kumar & Schmitz 2011);
- The alignment of actions performing on all the levels of the organization in a unified strategy (O’Rourke & Bulushi 2010);
- The opportunity to respond rapidly to emerging changes in the external environment of the organization appears.
It also seems necessary to point out the fact that the quality audit is the process of a systematic study of the quality system carried out by internal or external auditors. It is a significant part of the organization’s quality management system and a key element of the ISO standard, in particular, the ISO 9000. The resilience of the company seems to be one of the mot important factors as well (Ates & Bititci 2011).
ADNOC’s Experience
ADNOC applies GSO ISO TS 9001 standard that was initiated especially for Middle Eastern oil-producing countries. Its requirements are aimed at preventing and reducing defects and deviations from the loss of suppliers of goods and services. Moreover, the coherence of organizations performing in the oil and gas industry is ensured due to these specific requirements. In their turn, the latter increase the quality assurance of the supply of goods and services.
The mission of the company is “to become a value-added supplier of environment-friendly, integrated and high-quality products” (ADNOC Sustainability Report 2014). At the same time, ADNOC understands that the competitiveness of the company directly depends on the quality and transparency of the corporate management in the context of the globalization.
Therefore, it aims at creating appropriate conditions for the mutual interest of all participants of cooperation, both internal and external, in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the production, business activities, and the economic efficiency of industrial activity of the company. Besides, “the company is the first oil and gas player in the Middle East to implement the Oracle Exadata Database Machine X 2-2 to optimize performance and quality of service across all its functions” (Ravishankar 2012, par. 4).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be emphasized that the paper discusses the notion of the quality management and exemplifies ADNOC organization. In particular, such concepts as ISO, SQC, QMS, and quality audit were considered. What is more, the paper reflects principal points of ADNOC concerning quality and strategic process improvement.
References
ADNOC Sustainability Report. 2014. Web.
Ates, A & Bititci, U 2011, ‘Change process: a key enabler for building resilient SMEs’, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 49, no. 18, pp. 5601-5618.
Faint, R 2011, ‘Learning towards business efficiency’, Operations Management, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 37-41.
Filho, MG & Uzsoy, R 2014, ‘Assessing the impact of alternative continuous improvement programmes in a flow shop using system dynamics’, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 52, no. 10, pp. 3014-3031.
Kumar, S & Schmitz, S 2011, ‘Managing recalls in a consumer product supply chain – root cause analysis and measures to mitigate risks’, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 235-253.
O’Rourke, S & Bulushi, HA 2010, ‘Managing Quality from a Distance: A Case Study of Collaboration Between Oman and New Zealand’, Quality in Higher Education, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 197-210.
Ravishankar, J 2012, ‘ADNOC’s plans to become a leading oil distributor’, Arabian Industry. Web.