IQMS Global

I Sustain: How can we reduse electicity consuption by using L...

2011-04-21T02:13:00.000-07:00

I Sustain: How can we reduse electicity consuption by using L...: "How can we reduce the power consumption by using led lights??? Initially we use filament or incandescent bulbs and halogen bulbs for..."

Balancing Risk and Reward

2010-10-27T05:03:00.000-07:00

Companies today should consider myriad corporate strategic concerns as well as increased federal regulation and public scrutiny over executive compensation and disclosure practices. The right balance between pay and risk—while retaining people long-term—can help with CEO succession.

Compensation plans should consider the impact of diverse company operations on the performance of any measured business unit and should include the contributions of those personnel responsible for these operations. It may be necessary, for compensation purposes, to adjust reported financial results, winnowing out the impact of corporate-wide transactions and actions, such as write-downs, that employees' activities cannot affect. Compensation plans should avoid rigid performance metrics and allow the committee ample discretion to adjust compensation to prevent manipulation of the system. Evaluate each provision of the compensation plan in the context of other risk-control strategies the company has adopted, such as the audit committee's financial risk controls.

A bottom-up strategy should be used, whereby business intelligence percolates from staff at ground level and informs the creation of realistic targets, rather than having top management impose arbitrary targets that might encourage imprudent risk-taking. Plans with steep performance curves or ratcheted award plateaus also create incentives for risky behavior to make the next higher level; there is need for discretion to discount (or augment) performance results that seem out of keeping with the company's risk-reward tolerances. One means to adjust performance criteria could be, for example, to weigh profits against return on assets; another would discount easily achieved targets and weigh difficult ones more heavily.

Importance of UL Mark

2010-10-26T00:03:00.000-07:00

All electrically controlled devices or systems in the USA must be approved. Conformity with national safety regulations is demonstrated by a mark of conformity from a qualified, recognized testing laboratory. The most widely recognized testing laboratory is UL (Underwriters Laboratories). UL conducts tests according to UL standards, which incorporate national standards as an essential component. The UL Mark is a registered certification mark of Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), an independent, not-for-profit, product safety testing and certification organization. The UL Mark may only be used on or in connection with products certified by UL and under the terms of written agreement with UL.

The UL Mark on a product means that UL has tested and evaluated representative samples of that product and determined that it meets UL's requirements. The requirements are primarily based on UL's own published Standards for Safety.

The UL Mark is one of the most recognized, accepted and trusted symbols in the world. Safety-conscious and concerned consumers look for this on products because it delivers the credibility of an independent, technically expert organization which has determined whether foreseeable risks associated with the product's use have been eliminated or minimized. Even after the product is offered in the marketplace, it must continue to meet safety requirements in order to continue bearing the UL Mark, or the mark will be removed by UL.

Underwriters Laboratories’ ever-recognizable UL Mark has been a beacon of safety and peace of mind, guiding consumers to reputable electrical products that have been rigorously tested and approved for safe use. To this day, the mere presence – or lack of – the trusted UL Mark is enough to make or break the purchases of millions of consumers worldwide.

The UL Mark comes in the form of a label or is die-stamped, silk-screened or molded into a product, it needs to contain the following 4 design elements to be verified as legitimate:

• The UL trademark: the letters “UL” arranged diagonally (descending left to right) within a circle, with a small ® symbol directly below the U

• The word “listed” printed either below or beside the circle in all capital letters: LISTED

• A 4-character alphanumeric control number, or a 4 to 6-digit issue number. In the case of the issue number, it may or may not be preceded by the phrase “Issue No.” as well as 1 or 2 letters

• A product identity phrase that concisely names what the product is

Additional signs of a genuine UL Mark are:

• A UL file number (which will often have the letter “E” as a prefix)

• The manufacturer’s company name or logo

• Applicable electrical ratings

• Information designating the product’s Catalog, Model, or Type designation

ISI Mark and Certification

2010-10-22T03:34:00.001-07:00

ISI mark is a third party guarantee of quality given by Bureau of Indian Standards. During the pre independence period, standardization activity was sporadic and confined mainly to a few Government purchasing organization. However, immediately after independence, economic development through coordinated utilization of resources was called for and the government recognized the role for standardization in gearing industry to competitive efficiency and quality production. ISI mark thus helps in formulating Indian Standards for products and services by bringing together and coordinating various interest groups like manufacturers, consumers, technical experts, testing personnel and others interested. The standards so prepared are known as Indian Standards (IS) and are considered as legal documents. The Indian Standards are used not only by the industry but also by the Government, students, consumers and regulatory authorities. It is interesting to note that the first Indian Standard was formulated for the National Flag which is IS1.

The certificate given by Indian Standard Institute to the commodity is as per the standard quality and quantity. Every manufacturer has to submit each lot or batch of production to the quality inspector who takes some sample quantity for examination. After satisfactory examination the certificate is issued to the producer. After that the batch is dispatched to the market for sale.

The ISI mark on a product is an assurance that the product conforms to the requirements as laid down in the specification. Conformity to the standard is ensured through regular surveillance of the manufacturing process, surprise inspections and testing of samples drawn from the factory as well as from the market. Fraudulent and unauthorized use of the ISI mark is a violation of the law punishable under the BIS Act.

Talent Management – Only people make the difference

2010-10-21T05:18:00.000-07:00

Today human talent has assumed the position of most-prized assets and resources. Therefore, recruiting, grooming, rewarding and retaining great employees have become a mission-critical necessity for service provider organizations across the board internationally. This is known as Talent management.Talent management has a direct impact on profitability, customer satisfaction, innovation and new product development.Worldwide executives identify talent management as the number one or number two top priorities for their organizations. Talent managers need to meet this need by developing their expertise to create a competitive advantage for their organization. When companies are being valued on the basis of the quality of human talents they have and business is being won or lost because of employees, there sure is a need to have systems, processes, and practices in place that make companies “nurseries and breeders of great performers” and to becoming “great places to thrive” for their employees.

Talent management also implies recognising a person's inherent skills, traits, personality and offering him a matching job. Every person has a unique talent that suits a particular job profile and any other position will cause discomfort. It is the job of the Management, particularly the HR Department, to place candidates with prudence and caution.

The necessary function of Talent management includes:

• Key Functions of A Talent Management Toolset

• Assessment (Ongoing)

• Business Objective Orientation (Task Relevance)

• Performance Appraisal / Review

• Talent Requirements

• Talent Pool Development and Management(Referrals, Direct Marketing, Sourcing)

• Recruiting

• Internal Rotation / Transfer Management

• Succession Planning

• Leadership Development

Talent management is the strategy through which Organizations become unique because they know that exceptional business is driven only by superior talent. Talent management is the new HR tool.

Environment Management

2010-06-17T03:56:00.001-07:00

Environmental problems are becoming serious day by day because of the interacting effects of increasing population density, industrialization and urbanization, and poor environmental management practices. Environment Management is, thus the management of interaction by the modern human societies with, and impact upon the environment.

The continuing degradation of the natural environment poses one of the greatest challenges to modern societies. All human, but in particular all industrial, activities create a burden on the environment although paradoxically at the same time the revenues gained from these activities create the basis for our well-being. Major problems include global warming, loss of biodiversity, water and air pollution, releases of persistent organic pollutants and other toxic substances, and land degradation including coastal erosion.

Good environmental management brings many benefits:

• Consistent with our company values of being brave, imaginative and decent

• Improved environmental and reputational risk management

• Cost savings

• Meeting stakeholder expectations of what constitutes a well run, responsible

business

• Ensuring compliance with relevant environmental laws, regulations and codes

• Reflects our commitment as a signatory to the Global Compact principles on

labour standards, human rights, environmental responsibility and combating

corruption

ISO 14001:2004 specifies requirements for an Environmental Management System to enable an organization to develop and implement a policy and objectives which take into account legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, and information about significant environmental aspects. It applies to those environmental aspects that the organization identifies as those which it can control and those which it can influence. It does not itself state specific environmental performance criteria.

ISO For Food Safety

2010-06-16T02:26:00.000-07:00

Control of food safety is very critical because failures in food supply can cause human suffering, death, poor reputation, violations, poor nutrition, poor quality products and decreased profits. ISO 22000 series is a truly global option for ensuring food safety. The purpose of ISO 22000 is to provide a practical approach to ensure the reduction and elimination of food safety risks as a means to protect consumers. ISO 22000 follows a long tradition of preventive actions, identified and regulated by quality and food safety professionals. It requires an organization to include any applicable food safety related statutory & regulatory requirements into its food safety management system.

The organization generally requires to:

• Identify, evaluate, control hazards that reasonably expected to occur

• Communicate safety issue of products throughout the food chain

• Communicate food safety management system throughout the organization

• Evaluate periodically and update the system to reflect the organization’s activities and recent information on hazards

Organizations should consider adoption of ISO 22000 for three principle reasons:

• Benefits in the marketplace - Customers receive confidence through the demonstrated implementation and ongoing maintenance of the system. As organizations along the supply chain adopt ISO 22000 or become subject to customer controls along the food supply chain, the market achieves assurance that there are no weak links in the food chain.

• Benefits to the organization producing the food - The organization has confidence that it has done the right things to provide control over activities that affect food safety. The system is well-planned, monitored, audited (internally and externally), and measured, and feedback is provided in a timely manner to decision makers.

• ISO 22000 goes well beyond regulatory requirements - ISO 22000 includes--but goes beyond--existing HACCP programs. HACCP programs are excellent and work very well to prevent food safety problems, but they are not supported by an overarching systematic approach that includes many of the components extracted from ISO 9001.

Changing Roles of Human Resource in Changing Environment

2010-06-15T03:01:00.000-07:00

Human Resource Management is undergoing a massive transformation. Employers are placing greater emphasis on business acumen and are automating and outsourcing many administrative functions, which will force many HR professionals to demonstrate new skills and compete for new, sometimes unfamiliar roles. As organizational trends and demands change, new ways of thinking and operating are needed, so to add value in the “new” organization HR professionals must play new roles and demonstrate broader competencies– Better models.

Evolving Trends and Impact in Human Resources Management:

• Linking HR strategy to business strategy

• Automating HR process

• Outsourcing HR activities

• Measuring the return on investment of HR programs

Shifting Paradigms

What’s Out What’s In

Job Analysis Competency Assessment

Personnel Management HR Management

Rulemaker Consultant

Functional Orientation Business Orientation

One Size Fits All Tailored Programs

Centralized Decisions Framework for Others to Decide

Mutual Distrust Partnering

Focus on Activities Focus on Impact

The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of his or her changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change direction, and customer-centered.Within this environment, the HR professional, who is considered necessary by line managers, is a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate and a change mentor. At the same time, especially the HR Generalist, still has responsibility for employee benefits administration, often payroll, and employee paperwork, especially in the absence of an HR Assistant.

"People are our greatest asset" is a mantra that companies have been chanting for years. Yet it is only recently that businesses have started putting HR systems in place that support this philosophy. As a result, the information that sits inside the HR department is being made available for effective use throughout the wider organization, helping companies align their workforces with long-term business objectives.

Balance Score Card

2010-06-12T04:48:00.000-07:00

Balance Score Card (BSC) is a device used in strategic planning and management system. BSC is used extensively by businesses and industries to monitor organizational performance as against organization’s strategic goals. The first balanced scorecard was created by Art Schneiderman in 1987 which was popularised by Drs. Robert Kaplan (Harvard Business School) and David Norton. BSC is used as a performance measurement framework which adds strategic non-financial performance measures to traditional financial metrics to give managers and executives a more 'balanced' view of organizational performance. Balance Score Card enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. It provides feedback around both the internal business processes and external outcomes in order to continuously improve strategic performance and results. When fully deployed, the Balance Score Card transforms strategic planning from an academic exercise into the nerve centre of an enterprise.

The organizational Balance Score Card encompasses the organizational mission, vision, core values, critical success factors, objectives, performance measures, targets and improvement actions. This corporate scorecard is communicated and translated into all business unit balanced scorecards, team balanced scorecards and the performance plans of individual employees and their personal balanced scorecards. In connection with this policy deployment, each employee is stimulated to contribute to the shared organizational strategy.

Balance Score Card views organizations with four perspective:

The Learning & Growth Perspective

The Business Process Perspective

The Customer Perspective

The Financial Perspective

Deploying Balance Score Card

Kaplan and Norton provide an outline of how to deploy the Balance Score Card. Basically, a core team is formed to develop the detailed plan and deploy it. To reduce cost and risk, it is usually wise to initially deploy pilot projects in a limited part of the organization. However, all deployment efforts should be initiated at the headquarters level. Strategic goals have to come from the top. Also, some strategic initiatives to reach these goals should be identified there. Some metrics should be standardized at the top level in order that measurements from different departments will be comparable for benchmarking. At the departmental or pilot project level, specific goals, initiatives, desired outcomes, metrics, targets, and annual milestones can be defined.

Importance of Program Management?

2010-05-28T04:26:00.000-07:00

Every organization, irrespective of its sectors carries out number of projects and programs every now and then worth billions of dollars to accomplish a certain major goal or set of goals. But a significant number of projects get delayed, or have cost overruns, or fail due to lack of proper management. Program Management, thus, helps in this regard and also for excellent business performance. There are similarities and differences in how the term is used in non-profit and for-profit organizations. Nonprofits usually refer to programs as ongoing, major services to clients, for example, a Transportation Program, Housing Program, etc. For-profits often use the term for very large business efforts that have limited duration and a defined set of deliverables. Nonprofits and for-profits might refer to programs as a one-time or ongoing set of activities internal to the organization, for example, a Total Quality Management Program, Workplace Safety Program, the Space Program, etc. The real value in employing program management is that it focuses on the business results desired and offers a systematic approach for delivering revenue generating or cost reduction solutions that create competitive advantages.

It does this by focusing on the following business needs:

• Aligning strategy and execution

• Managing complexity

• Integrating business functions

Program Management also brings the concept of Programme Management Maturity Model (PMMM). The Programme Management Maturity Model (PMMM) provides a mechanism through which an organisation or a group within an organisation can:

• Evaluate itself in programme management terms

• Compare its own maturity with other organisation on a fair basis

• Compare its own maturity with benchmarks from similar organisations

• Understand its strengths and weaknesses

• Develop a plan to improve its ability to deliver successful programmes

We very often use the terms Programme Management and Project Management interchangeably. But, Programme Management is different from Project Management.

Programme Management - Strategic in nature, focused on business success and ensuring work remains feasible from a business perspective.

Project Management - Tactical in nature, focused on execution success and ensuring work generates deliverables on time, on budget, and fully functional

If implemented correctly, program management can become a powerful element of a company’s product, service or infrastructure delivery system.

Statistical Process Control to Monitor Process

2010-05-26T00:11:00.000-07:00

Very often we come across the term SPC or Statistical Process Control in manufacturing organizations.Statistical Process Control (SPC) involves using statistical techniques to measure and analyze the variation in processes. Most often used for manufacturing processes, the intent of SPC is to monitor product quality and maintain processes to fixed targets. Statistical quality control refers to using statistical techniques for measuring and improving the quality of processes and includes Statistical Process Control in addition to other techniques, such as sampling plans, experimental design, variation reduction, process capability analysis, and process improvement plans.

Statistical Process Control is used to monitor the consistency of processes used to manufacture a product as designed. It aims to get and keep processes under control. No matter how good or bad the design, SPC can ensure that the product is being manufactured as designed and intended. Thus, Statistical Process Control will not improve a poorly designed product's reliability, but can be used to maintain the consistency of how the product is made and, therefore, of the manufactured product itself and its as-designed reliability.

Statistical Process Control was pioneered by Walter A. Shewhart in the early 1920s. W. Edwards Deming later applied SPC methods in the United States during World War II, thereby successfully improving quality in the manufacture of munitions and other strategically important products. Deming was also instrumental in introducing SPC methods to Japanese industry after the war had ended.

The followings are the major benefits of SPC for an organization:

Provides surveillance and feedback for keeping processes in control
Signals when a problem with the process has occurred
Detects assignable causes of variation
Accomplishes process characterization
Reduces need for inspection
Monitors process quality
Provides mechanism to make process changes and track effects of those changes
Once a process is stable (assignable causes of variation have been eliminated), provides process capability analysis with comparison to the product tolerance

Statistical Process Control is used everywhere, behind the scenes. It is a verifiable way to better understand and make sense of variation. Statistical Process Control (SPC) is an optimization philosophy centered on using a variety of statistical tools to enable continuous process improvement. Closely linked to the total quality management (TQM) philosophy, SPC helps firms to improve profitability by improving process and product quality. Although initially used in manufacturing, Statistical Process Control tools and methods work equally well in a service environment.

Knowledge Management

2010-05-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

“The only irreplaceable capital an organization possesses is the knowledge and ability of its people. The productivity of that capital depends on how effectively people share their competence with those who can use it.” – Andrew Carnegie

Most companies are focused on producing a product or service for customers. However, one of the most significant keys to value-creation comes from placing emphasis on producing knowledge. The production of knowledge needs to be a major part of the overall production strategy. Knowledge management is, thus, the hottest subject of the day. Knowledge management is applied today across the world, in all industry sectors, public and private organizations and humanitarian institutions and international charities. The term knowledge management was first introduced in a 1986 keynote address to a European management conference (American Productivity and Quality Center 1996). Knowledge Management is the name of a concept in which an enterprise consciously and comprehensively gathers, organizes, shares, and analyzes its knowledge in terms of resources, documents, and people skills.

Knowledge Management is often about managing relationships within the organization. Collaborative tools (intranets, balanced scorecards, data warehouses, customer relations management, expert systems, etc.) are often used to establish these relationships. Some companies have developed knowledge maps, identifying what must be shared, where can we find it, what information is needed to support an activity, etc. Knowledge maps codify information so that it becomes real knowledge; i.e. from data to intelligence.

Knowledge Management can transform your organization to new levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and scope of operation. Through advancements in technology, data and information are readily available. The modern business manager is able to discover and learn new measures, new technologies, and new opportunities, but this requires the ability to gather information in usable formats and disseminate knowledge to achieve the organization’s objectives.

Knowledge Management is continually discovering what an organization knows—codifying tacit knowledge, Data Mining, and Business Intelligence; continually increasing what the organization knows—organizational learning and communities of practice, and continually organizing and disseminating explicit knowledge for use throughout the organization.

The author of modern management, Peter Drucker, wrote, “The basic economic resource—the means of production—is no longer capital, nor natural resources, nor labor. It is and will be knowledge.”

Information Security Management System

2010-05-22T04:38:00.000-07:00

For any business houses in today’s digital world, information assets are very much critical. Organizations now are highly dependent on information and communications technology. Successful businesses should have right information at the right time in order to make well-informed decisions. Interconnectivity leads to information being exposed to growing number and wider variety of threats and vulnerabilities. So, every information whether paper-based or on a computer, is at risk. Thus, protection of information becomes a major challenge for every organization.

Information Security Management System is thus used for the protection of information. ISMS provides a framework to establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain and improve the information security within an organization. It is an organizational approach to information security. ISMS is a documented system certifying that:

o Information assets in your company are described and secured,

o Information security risks are managed and mitigated,

o Security policies together with their ownerships and guarantees are in place,

o Adherence to security measures is inspected periodically.

ISMS can be implemented as a specific information system that deals with a particular business area, or it can be implemented as an all-encompassing system involving the whole organization.In any case, ISMS usually involves resources spanning from the management to the regular employees.

How ISMS helps : -

o If information is the key asset that is needed in your business then ISMS helps to protect your business case,

o ISMS delivered via ISO standards is compatible with others in the market,

o Company management is always involved in the security and always has access to information,

o Your partners view you as more reliable, credible, and trustworthy,

o ISMS certification opens doors to new business (for example better competitive position in the EU market),

o Information and data sources are utilized more efficiently,

o ISMS makes your investments into information security more efficient,

o ISMS brings the importance of information security to your employees and makes them more involved in your business,

o ISMS changes the culture in your company (brings responsibility and accountability).

ISMS employs PDCA model for implementation. It is the process of “ PLAN-DO-CHECK –ACT”.

Information security protects information from a wide range of threats in order to ensure business continuity, minimize business damage, and maximize return on investment and business opportunities.

Change Management

2010-05-17T23:21:00.000-07:00

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”-Henri Bergson

For change to become effective, it has to be approached in a wise way. Change management is, thus used as a systematic approach to deal with change. A somewhat ambiguous term, change management has at least three different aspects, including: adapting to change, controlling change, and effecting change. A proactive approach to dealing with change is at the core of all three aspects.

The need for Change:

Employees become disinterested in the current state and the future state.
Employees begin arguing about change and the direction of the company.
Employees revert back to the old way of doing things.
Changes are not fully implemented.
Active resistance emerges and sabotages the change.

Change, the very word brings fear and insecurity in the mind of the employees. So, change should not be imposed on people otherwise it may have negative impact in the organization. It requires thoughtful planning and implementation. Successful adaptation to change is as crucial within an organization as it is in the natural world. Strong resistance to change is often rooted in deeply conditioned or historically reinforced feelings. Patience and tolerance are required to help people in these situations to see things differently. There are examples of this sort of gradual staged change everywhere in the living world. Also, certain types of people - the reliable/dependable/steady/habitual/process-oriented types - often find change very unsettling. People who welcome change are not generally the best at being able to work reliably, dependably and follow processes. The reliability/dependability capabilities are directly opposite character traits to mobility/adaptability capabilities.

It is very necessary to understand the mindsets of people to manage change. Planning, implementing and managing change in a fast-changing environment is increasingly the situation in which most organizations now work. Dynamic environments such as these require dynamic processes, people, systems and culture, especially for managing change successfully, notably effectively optimizing organizational response to market opportunities and threats.

Managing Change is a challenge for business leaders today as it may lead to waste of resources also.So,change should be used as a tool for helping people through change so that the desired business results can be achieved. Since,"change is the only constant”, organizations need to take measures to manage change systematically so that it benefits the organization.

Managing Innovation

2010-04-16T23:27:00.000-07:00

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

Companies are catching on to this sea change. In an Ernst & Young study, European and North American companies called innovation the most important criterion for success in the future. Jack Welch, CEO of GE and seen as the world’s greatest living manager, obsesses about his company’s ability to “break the glass”—that is, continue to innovate. He worries whether it has “the right gene pool— do people who join big companies want to break the glass? We’ve got to break this company to do this—there’s no discussion, we’ve just got to break it.”

Organizations, therefore, have to thrive to innovate constantly to be the leader. Innovation involves a lot of processes. It, thus becomes imperative to manage these processes. It can be used to develop both product and organizational innovation. Without proper processes, it is not possible for R&D to be efficient; innovation management includes a set of tools that allow managers and engineers to cooperate with a common understanding of goals and processes. The focus of innovation management is to allow the organization to response to external or internal opportunity, and use its creative efforts to introduce new ideas, processes or products. There are two major types of innovation – product and process innovation. As a third type hybrids combine product and process innovation. Product i nnovation is concerned with bringing new or greatly improved goods or services to market. Process innovation concerns itself with improving the business functions required to profit from providing goods or services. Innovation management is the economic implementation and exploitation of new ideas and discoveries, and the implementation of an innovation culture in an organization, to promote and make possible the development of new ideas and business opportunities.

It is driven by any of the following business imperatives:

• The need for enhanced growth beyond current strategic plans

• The need to find alternative ways of mitigating cost pressures going forward in a rising cost environment

• The need to create strategic flexibility for the business going forward in order to create options and choices for management

• The need to improve market perceptions of a business. Empirical evidence proves that those companies who are constantly innovating trade at a premium to those that do not. The markets price in an expectation of innovation and growth

• The need to adapt a tired business model in the face of global competition

Management must ignore the temptation to try and appease shareholders and analysts in the short term, by following through on their convictions. They will in any event be held accountable at some future period.

The challenge for any competent management team is to determine whether their strategy will ensure that once they are done with all the cost cutting and increased efficiencies, they have something else in their quiver to off-set the unavoidable effects of inflation on their input costs in year two and three.

“The winners will get below the buzzwords and be recognizable by their focus on the outputs of innovation or real value delivered. They will create actionable platforms for experimentation and a road map to scale early success” - Anon

Human Resource Audit - A Tool for Measuring Manpower Functioning

2010-04-16T00:36:00.000-07:00

For any business, in order to operate properly, it is very much necessary to have a well run human resource department. This can be ensured by having a regular audit of human resource department. A Human Resource Audit serves as a means through which an organization can measure the health of its human resource function. It is a process of examining policies, procedures, documentation, systems, and practices with respect to an organization’s Human Resource functions. The purpose of the audit is to reveal the strengths and weaknesses in the nonprofits’ human resources system, and any issues needing resolution. The audit works best when the focus is on analyzing and improving the Human Resource function in the organization. The purpose of conducting a human resource audit is to support the overall business plan of the organization. The process has three parts: to identify and prioritize management issues relating to human resources; identify gaps between the current practices and policies with that of the business objective; and to identify any legal difference and potential exposure. Unfortunately most companies who perform an audit only focus on compliance and miss those items that could really make a difference in one’s business over the long term. The Human Resource audits should be done every twelve to eighteen months and should coincide with the organizations business planning cycle. While some will say that the audit should be done annually, but since it is such a large task pushing it to every eighteen months is fine but definitely should not go beyond two years. The other option is to establish an audit cycle to break the task into manageable sized pieces.

Why Do An Audit

1) To insure the effective utilization of an organization’s human resources.

2) To review compliance with a myriad of administrative regulations.

3) To instil a sense of confidence in management and the human resources function that it is well managed and prepared to meet potential challenges.

4) To maintain or enhance the organization’s and the department’s reputation in the community.

5) To perform a "due diligence" review for shareholders or potential investors/owners.

Human Resource audits also provide feedback as to whether Human Resource function is contributing to the achievement of organizations’ goals. Senior management needs this information in order to make strategic decisions to improve productivity. This feedback can be used to take corrective actions and make decisions on improvement plan.

Organization Development

2010-04-14T04:38:00.000-07:00

“Change is the only constant”, as such organizations continuously have to deal with it. According to Warren Buffet, Organization Development is a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organization so that they can better adapt to new technologies, marketing and challenges, and the dizzying rate of change itself. It is a particular kind of change process designed to bring about a particular kind of end result. The process is carefully planned and implemented to benefit the organization, its employees and its stakeholders. Organizational development is the process through which an organization develops the internal capacity to be the most effective it can be in its mission work and to sustain itself over the long term. This highlights the explicit connection between organizational development work and the achievement of organizational mission. This connection is the rationale for doing Organization Development work.

Why the need for Organization Development?

• Profitability, productivity, morale and quality of work life are of concern to most organizations because they impact achievement of organization goals. There is an increasing trend to maximize an organization's investment in its employees. Jobs that previously required physical dexterity now require more mental effort. Organizations need to "work smarter" and apply creative ideas.

• The work force has also changed. Employees expect more from a day's work than simply a day's pay. They want challenge, recognition, a sense of accomplishment, worthwhile tasks and meaningful relationships with their managers and co-workers. When these needs are not met, performance declines.

• Today's customers demand continually improving quality, rapid product or service delivery; fast turn-around time on changes, competitive pricing and other features that are best achieved in complex environments by innovative organizational practices.

• The effective organization must be able to meet today's and tomorrow's challenges. Adaptability and responsiveness are essential to survive and thrive.

The development of organizations and, particularly, how you manage change impacts the success of business. Organization development activities intervene in the interactions of the people systems such as formal and informal groups, work culture and climate, and organization design to increase their effectiveness using a variety of applied behavioral sciences.

Corporate business leaders in the 21st century face daunting, complex and unrelenting challenges. In the competitive global marketplace, business leaders must simultaneously identify new opportunities for growth and innovation to remain agile and responsive, as they continue to lead organizations in:

* Becoming global and multi-cultural;

* Developing productive, performance-based work environments;

* Building their talent and organizational capabilities to fulfill future needs;

* Accommodating new and changing external regulation;

* Leveraging and integrating new technologies to support the business; and

* Meeting increasing expectations for socially responsible and sustainable business practices.

The future of Organization Development is bright since there is considerable room for improvement in the effectiveness of organizations in areas that organizational leaders consider critically important to the sustainability of their businesses, and the field of Organization Development. offers some of its greatest strengths in these very areas.Leaders across a wide range of industries see increasing opportunities for Organization Development related work that is critical to the future of business and society.

Why do Companies need Six Sigma?

2010-04-10T03:15:00.000-07:00

Performance Quality is the key to growth of every industry. So checking of performance quality now and then is very much necessary which can be done using Six Sigma. “SIX SIGMA” – the statistical representation, is a process of quality measurement, which helps the organization in the improvement of their quality. Originally developed by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986, the Six Sigma Training program was created using some of the most innovative quality improvement methods from the preceding six decades. The term "Six Sigma" is derived from a field of statistics known as process capability. The term 6 Sigma refers to the ability of manufacturing processes to produce a very high proportion of output within specification. Processes that operate with “six sigma quality” over the short term are assumed to produce long-term defect levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

The basic component of the Six Sigma methodology is DMAIC. DMAIC means - Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Some companies add a R for "recognize" in front of Define and an R for "realize" after Control. You first have to Recognize you have a problem before defining it and, after implementing a solution you have to control it over time to Realize its financial benefits.

Generally speaking, companies use Six Sigma to reduce variation in products and processes - but the net effect of any Six Sigma project is what people are really looking for: fewer defects, shorter cycle times, increased capacity and throughput, lower costs, higher revenues and reduced capital expenditures.

When Six Sigma is deployed systematically and pervasively - with the right technology support and leadership force - it can produce large amounts of cash for shorter-term profitability or for longer-term investments.

In its most simple sense, Six Sigma is a highly disciplined approach to decision making that helps people focus on improving processes to make them as near perfect as possible.

The term "Six Sigma" relates to the number of mathematical defects in a process. Six Sigma practitioners focus on systematically eliminating the defects so they can get as close to "zero defects" as possible.

Six Sigma implementation will guide organizations to:

- Improve Customer Satisfaction

- Increase Profitability

- Increase Productivity

Six Sigma is important because it scores much higher over other quality improvement techniques such as Total Quality Management. Business organizations employing Total Quality Management just focus on achieving predetermined quality levels, which certainly improves efficiencies but does not allow the organization to realize the full potential. Six Sigma is different as the focus here is to make consistent quality improvements until business processes are fully optimized. As soon a certain quality level is achieved, the organization shifts gears and starts concentrating on achieving other levels of quality. The whole process continues until all the business processes are fully optimized.

Another reason for the ever-increasing popularity and importance of Six Sigma is that it really helps when it comes to handling competition, which has increased considerably in today’s business world. Business organizations worldwide have realized that in order to beat the competition, they will have to offer better quality products or services to their customers and that too at competitive rates.

Kaizen

2010-04-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

The business world has changed dramatically in the last couple of years and the biggest challenge that most business managers/ entrepreneurs or any business are facing these days is to implement and adopt change programs. The business has become more competitive and no one can deny from the fact that today the requirement to improve the quality and productivity is one of the highest priorities in business management. This is where "Kaizen", comes into picture and plays a vital role. Kaizen has been derived from the fusion of two Japanese words: "Kai" and "Zen", it stands for "Change" and "Good" and defined as nonstop enhancement or improvement. Kaizen focuses upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, supporting business processes, and management. Kaizen approach helped many firms all across the globe to achieve better operational excellence and improve their productivity. Kaizen is the means to achieve a corporate strategy, not the strategy. Every corporation needs to make a radical change, or some change at least, to survive in this very competitive, rapidly changing world.

Designed to achieve better quality at low cost and on-time delivery of products, Kaizen generally focus on defining standards and then repeatedly following those standards to get better and maximum output. This is an approach that strives toward achieving perfection by eliminating waste. Moreover, it encourages a better communication between different departments through Total Quality Management. Apart from this, Kaizen approach also focuses on complete productive maintenance and pay attention on getting the highest utility by effectively utilizing the present technologies.

The most important highlight of Kaizen approach is that it involves every single employee within an organization starting right from senior managers to the bottom line employees, and makes every person working there, feel the company as something personal. This indirectly helps in improving the individual performance and motivates them to deliver better output. With every employee is looking for ways to make improvements, an effective Kaizen approach can lead to have better results like:

1) It helps in decreasing the waste in areas such as inventory, transportation, and over production.

2) It focuses on discovering problems at their source and solving them at their source, and if in case a situation arises where one needs to change the standards, it further helps in changing the standard so that the problem can be solved.

3) It helps in positive space utilization and better use of production capacity, capital and employee retention.

4) Kaizen can be easily implemented by effective and well planned elimination or transformation of existing procedures

5) It focuses on creative investments and small improvements instead of large capital investments and thus provides immediate results.

No doubt if we observe the current market scenario, by following the Kaizen approach any organization can indeed achieve and develop an organized work place with disciplined employees. Making the appropriate and correct use of skills of your employees to further improve the competitiveness can greatly contribute towards the growth of your business; standardize the working culture and measure all possible metrics to attain the best market result.

In recent years Kaizen as a new concept has been applied into many organizations, manufacturing and service companies. Thus, if any company is looking to improve its productivity at lower costs, and planning to maintain or achieve a sustainable growth rate, then Kaizen is definitely one of the answers, as Lyndon B. Johnson says “The noblest search is the search for excellence.”

Quality Circle – A Tool for Employee Participation in Management.

2010-04-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

In the current world, industry’s search for improved quality and productivity several factors play major roles. In the product sector of the economy, international competitive pressures and demands for higher quality are currently the major forces affecting management's search for greater efficiency. In the service sector, high cost, decreasing profit margins, inconsistent quality of delivery and competitors in local markets are the primary forces of change. These factors have encouraged many organizations to focus on ways to increase the contribution of employees to improvements in quality and productivity. This need led to the development of Quality Circles. Quality Circle is a small group of both employees and workers, doing similar work who voluntarily meet together on a regular basis to identify improvements in their respective work areas using proven techniques for analysing and solving work related problems coming in the way of achieving and sustaining excellence leading to mutual upliftment of employees as well as the organisation. It is "a way of capturing the creative and innovative power that lies within the work force".

Quality Circles concept has three major attributes:

Quality Circle is a form of participation management.
Quality Circle is a human resource development technique.
Quality Circle is a problem solving technique.

The concept of Quality Circle is primarily based upon recognition of the value of the worker as a human being, as someone who willingly activates on his job, his wisdom, intelligence, experience, attitude and feelings. It is based upon the human resource management considered as one of the key factors in the improvement of product quality & productivity.

Although most commonly found in manufacturing environments, quality circles are applicable to a wide variety of business situations and problems. They are based on two ideas: that employees can often make better suggestions for improving work processes than management; and that employees are motivated by their participation in making such improvements. Thus, implemented correctly, quality circles can help a small business reduce costs, increase productivity, and improve employee morale. Other potential benefits that may be realized by a small business include greater operational efficiency, reduced absenteeism, improved employee health and safety, and an overall better working climate. Quality Circles when used along with Benchmarking produce excellent results. By comparing your performance to other competitors and researching their circles of successful activity improves your companies overall quality or worth. There is also a concept of Student quality circles which work on the philosophy of Total Quality Management. A standard was developed for business quality system which is ISO 9000.

The philosophy of Quality Circles preaches to attain self motivation & happiness by improving the products through quality excellence in each of the functional areas.

Why the need for Lean Management?

2010-04-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability will keep the question of waste before him constantly. The scope of thrift is limitless. ~Thomas A. Edison

Lean means "manufacturing without waste." Waste ("muda" in Japanese) has many forms like material, time, idle equipment, and inventory. Most companies waste 70%-90% of their available resources. Lean Manufacturing, thus reduces this and improves material handling, inventory, quality, scheduling, personnel and customer satisfaction. Lean production is an assembly-line methodology developed originally for Toyota and the manufacturing of automobiles. It is also known as the Toyota Production System or just-in-time production.

The Basic Principles of Lean Development

Add Nothing But Value (Eliminate Waste) - The first step in lean thinking is to understand what value is and what activities and resources are absolutely necessary to create that value.
Center On The People Who Add Value - Almost every organization claims it’s people are important, but if they truly center on those who add value, they would be able to say that the people doing the work are the center of-
- Resources
- Information
- Process Design Authority
- Decision Making Authority
- Organizational Energy

Flow Value From Demand (Delay Commitment) – The idea that flow should be ‘pulled’ from demand is also fundamental to lean production. ‘Pull’ means that nothing is done unless and until a downstream process requires it. The effect of ‘pull’ is that production is not based on forecast; commitment is delayed until demand is present to indicate what the customer really wants.
Optimize Across Organizations - Quite often, the biggest barrier to adopting lean practices is organizational. As products move from one department to another, a big gap often develops, especially if each department has its own set of performance measurements that are unrelated to the performance measurements of neighboring departments.

In order to achieve all these, Lean Management contributes a lot. It is the driving force behind lean. Let us first understand the concept of Lean Management. Lean Management is defining the purpose of the organisation in terms of customer value i.e., consumption problems of customers it is required to solve, designing and executing the right value streams and processes for achieving the purpose, and aligning the people touching the process and building problem solving capability in them.The synergy between Lean and Six sigma is very effective.

Lean services are not meant for a specific activity, it is applicable in any sphere of human activity, and a variety of industries – small and large from Retail, Office and Service industries have begun to appreciate the benefits of Lean Management and are transforming themselves. Many companies from Banking & Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail, Hospitality, BPOs, Call Centre & ITES and Software Industries have already embarked on a Lean Programme or are evaluating and seriously considering one. This is apart from Manufacturing Industries realising that Lean Management is more than applying tools and techniques in the factory operations.

There are five Lean tools, which are :-

Value Stream Mapping
Takt Time
Ishikawa (Cause-and-Effect) Diagram and 5 Whys
Heijunka (Load Balancing)
Poka Yoke (Mistake Proofing)

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but habit.” – Aristotle

Lean Management, thus helps organizations in this regard i.e to achieve excellence with continuous improvements and elimination of wastes.

Human Capability Enhancement (HCE)

2010-03-30T00:11:00.000-07:00

Humans are at the very heart of things in each and every organization. Everyone makes a difference to the success of the organization. The business world today is continuously changing, new things are coming up every now and then, and, all these are because of excessive competition. The surest way to become globally competitive is to invest in the development of human resources. The world is a single global marketplace, not only in terms of goods but also human. Companies must, therefore, continually enhance their workforces’ skills to respond to the emerging demands of customers, investors and society as a whole – requirements that change with the ways that people live and work. Human Capability Enhancement (HCE) is a giant step in this regard. It both an academic theory and a business practice that addresses the skills theoretical and practical techniques of managing a workforce. Theoretically, it is assumed that employees are individuals with varying goals and needs. Sometimes, employees are not able to contribute to the organization productively because of lack of knowledge, insufficient training, and failures of process. Human Capability Enhancement is a new concept of workplace management. It in fact forces Managers to express their goals specifically so that they can be understood by the workforce and undertake it successfully. It, if properly practised can reflect the Organization’s goals and business practices.

Key Challenges faced by Organizations

The organizations are facing no. of issues related to the Human resources are
Managing attrition and lay-offs
Developing workforce competencies required to execute business strategy
Measuring training effectiveness
Enhancing employee and customer satisfaction levels
Providing motivation in a highly dynamic work environment.

Why the need for enhancement?

Analyze the business process to describe the human capabilities that must utilize the process to produce difficult high-value results
Define specific high-worth capabilities to produce high-value results as capital solutions for specific human knowledge and human capability development
Focus human capital on results, so that they always know the results expected and how to apply their capabilities to produce results
Develop human capabilities as specific capital solutions to produce specific high-value results
Support human capital with knowledge capital to utilize specific capital solutions to produce specific results
Let human capital know the value of their results and how their performance can add value to results
Let human capital know the relationship between the value added to results produced and their worth to the enterprise as human capital

To meet the challenges of globalization—negative as well as positive—capacity building is needed in areas of organization, management, governance, and public administration all over the world. Viewing human resources as human capital and beyond, it can be argued that without human resources nothing can be accomplished, and without a well-trained, well-developed, well-appreciated, and well-managed human resources, modern organizations of government and business cannot meet the challenges of the globalization age, which demands a new generation of future-oriented, anticipatory managers who can develop effective visions and manage organizations by riding the high waves of change in the turbulent world.

Total Quality Management

2010-03-29T00:24:00.000-07:00

“Good quality is never achieved by accident”- Katsuyoshi Ishihara

This is very much true as without continuous improvements quality can never be achieved. Quality has become an important aspect of business processes today. Earlier businesses were more product oriented but now the focus has shifted to quality and this has given rise to the concept of Total Quality Management. Dr. W. Edwards Deming: (1900-1993) is considered to be the Father of Modern Quality. Dr. Deming preached that to achieve the highest level of performance requires more than a good philosophy – the organization must change its behaviour and adopt new ways of doing business. Deming's approach were amply summed up in his famous Fourteen Points.

Coming to Total quality management, we can say that it is a management system for a customer focused organization that involves all employees in continual improvement of all aspects of the organization. Many Fortune 500 firms such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Ford and GM have committed themselves to Total quality Management. Total Quality Management is a people driven process. It involves changes in people’s attitudes primarily. In addition, it deals with process orientation and continuous improvement of the process. It strives for empowerment and autonomy of the people involved in using processes of production. It asks people to continuously look for new ways to adapt to the changing environment. It is a continuous improvement plan, with an effort to bring out the best for the shareholders as well as for the institution. Some of the features of Total Quality Management are:-

Focus on Customers’ needs
Employee involvement at all levels
Emphasizes team-work
Continuous Improvement
Universal Responsibility
A Sustained Management Commitment to Quality
Quality Measurement
Benchmarking
Value improvement
Training

To prove that the business has rigorous quality standards, external certification by a respected body is seen as being important. Such external certification could be through the Investors in People programme - a recognised standard in the training and professional development of staff in a business - and through such bodies as the ISO. Two certificates are particularly sought after - ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. The former is concerned with quality management in relation to customer requirements, customer satisfaction, adherence to regulations and the pursuit of continuous improvement. ISO 14000 is related to the impact of the firm's activities on the environment and the firm's attempts to improve its performance in this respect. The coming up and use of all these send signals to customers throughout the world that a business takes its quality management processes seriously.

How Benchmarking contributes towards company efficiency?

2010-03-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

Very often, to get where we want to go we have to know where we are starting from, and this is where Benchmarking comes in the picture. Benchmarking, of late has created a lot of hullabaloo in the business world and why it should not. Its importance can be ascertained by the organizations for their growth and success. Benchmarking allows an organization to compare it self against the competition, the market. Almost each and every business or management process can be benchmarked. The process of benchmarking can be just as important as the results. Benchmarking process can be effectively used in a variety of industries in many different of areas, such as technology, manufacturing, operations, management, purchasing, supplier selection, training, finance, business and marketing. Benefits of Benchmarking are many folds. It helps a company to identify its loopholes and improve on them. In fact, an organization can also Benchmark its own performance current performance with past performance. It leads to steady increase in performance. This is a powerful marketing tool as we can measure the company’s performance quantitatively. Through Benchmarking it can be found out that –

Who does the business process really well and has processes that are adaptable to my organization
What areas are causing the most trouble
Which employees contribute most to the critical success factors
What are the performance measures to determine the effect of our actions?
Who is the most compatible for me to benchmark with

Benchmarking, thus serves a number of purposes like :

It enables a company to calibrate how it is delivering different processes by examining the way other organizations accomplish tasks and responsibilities
Benchmarking enables a company to learn from others successes and mistakes.
Benchmarking can create an environment in which active learning is encouraged. can be used as a tool to motivate people to change.
Benchmarking can be used to help set direction and priorities for a manager and helps him/her to focus on critical activities.
A well established benchmarking process can help managers set goals and targets designed to make the company the best in its competitive field, and to initiate focused programs that move the company from its current position
Helps in justifying costs and practices.
Conduct trend analysis.
Builds confidence when "gut feel" assumptions are validated
Internal thinking from "inputs" to "outputs" (i.e. measures)
Serves as an excellent baseline "report card"

Benchmarking is also a great team-building tool. Organizations who involve their team throughout the benchmarking process report the following benefits:

Accelerates understanding and agreement on the real problem areas
Educates on the latest practices being used and performance being achieved
Motivates the team to work collaboratively internally to surpass external benchmarks
Removes emotion from the discussion.

Benchmarking is a continuous evaluation and improvement process that helps Organizations to evolve. Needless to say looking at all these benefits most of the companies today use Benchmarking extensively to be successful and reach zenith in business domain.

Benchmarking - A step towards Business Excellence

2010-03-24T05:43:00.000-07:00

In today’s competitive business environment benchmarking comes as savior for business houses to achieve business excellence. Now, what do we mean by benchmarking and how it helps? It is systematic tool that allows a company to determine whether its performance of organizational process and activities represent the best practices. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time, and cost. Improvements from learning mean doing things better, faster, and cheaper. It denotes a comparison with select performance indicators from different organizations typically in the same industry, or with comparable organizations that are considered to be the best in class. All these help organizations to identify the areas where they are losing out and learn from others’ success and mistakes.

Benchmarking does not require any special type of activity; almost any activity can be benchmarked and there is no universal process of Benchmarking either. It does necessarily be the processes directly comparable to other organizations. Benchmarking, in fact, is a management process very often referred to as "best practice benchmarking” or "process benchmarking". Benchmarking keeps organization at their toes to thrive to be the best in the field. Otherwise, as is our nature we would be satisfied and relaxed thinking we are the best, no one is and cannot be. Just as “a man without an aim is like a ship without radar” so are organizations without benchmarking. Organizations should continuously set targets to attain the unattainable. Benchmarking can be done in five ways like Internal benchmarking, Competitive benchmarking, Functional benchmarking, Generic benchmarking, Collaborative benchmarking. Though it is a costly affair but it pays for itself. Benchmarking, we can say, aligns all the business processes to achieve business excellence. Benchmarking requires a lot of commitment from the organizations to make its implementation a success. It works in the areas of HR, Knowledge Management, Finance and host of other areas. It triggers innovation and improvement through competition. The world is digital now and moves faster with light speed so here Benchmarking comes to the rescue. It keeps organizations on the right track and they are aware where they are headed to. All these do not mean that it is a tool for cut-throat competition. Competition, yes it is, but in a healthier way. It in fact raises the level of not only the organizations as a whole but the entire industry. Its importance and effectiveness is forcing everyone to go for it which surely will increase in the next one or two years. Thus Benchmarking helps to identify strong and weak management practice and best practice to enable the gaps to be closed. While doing all these Benchmarking in turn helps organizations to achieve business excellence. To quote, “You are doing your best only when you are trying to improve what you are doing”, conveys what we can do through Benchmarking.

ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System

2010-03-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

ISO 9001 is a Quality Management Standard. It applies to all types of organizations. It doesn't matter what size they are or what they do. It can help both product and service oriented organizations achieve standards of quality that are recognized and respected throughout the world.

The ISO 9001:2008 quality certification is based on the following eight fundamental quality management principles:

Customer focus
Leadership
Involvement of people
Process approach
System approach to management
Continual improvement
Factual approach to decision making
Mutually beneficial supplier relationships

Customer Benefits:
The ISO 9000 series of standards have been developed to enable organizations to have quality based management systems. This enables them to understand their customer's requirements and improve customer satisfaction, through the review and improvement of their internal activities.

Benefits of Implementing ISO 9001:
The benefits of using the standards are as follows:

Improved consistency of service and product performance
Higher customer satisfaction levels
Improved customer perception
Improved productivity and efficiency
Cost reductions
Improved communications, morale and job satisfaction
Competitive advantage and increased marketing and sales opportunities.

How can IQMS Help?

IQMS consists of full-time trainers and consultants with a unique combination of manufacturing experience, business and financial expertise, and a "hands-on" approach creates a recipe for our clients' success.

Source:

http://www.iqmsglobal.com/iso9000.htm

CMMI Assessment

2010-03-15T00:50:00.000-07:00

Capability Maturity Model Integration

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance. CMMI model is a process improvement maturity model for the development of products and services. It consists of best practices that address development and maintenance activities that cover the product lifecycle from conception through delivery and maintenance.

Benefits of implementing CMMI

Organization's activities are explicitly linked to your business objectives.
Visibility into the organization's activities is increased to help you ensure that your product or service meets the customer's expectations.
Learn from new areas of best practice (e.g., measurement, risk)

People Capability Maturity Model
People Capability Maturity Model (PCMM, People CMM, P-CMM) is a maturity framework that describes the key elements of managing and developing the workforce of an organization. It describes an evolutionary improvement path from an ad hoc approach to managing the work-force, to a mature, disciplined development of the knowledge, skills, and motivation of the people that fuels enhanced business performance.

Benefits of implementing PCMM

Characterize the maturity of their human resource practices
Set priorities for improving the competence of its work-force
Integrate competence growth with process improvement
Establish a culture of workforce excellence

CMMI Appraisal
The CMMI Appraisal is an examination of one or more processes by a trained team of professionals using an appraisal reference model as the basis for determining strengths and weaknesses of an organization.

read more about CMMI Assessment

ISO Certifications

2010-03-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

International Organization for Standardization

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards. ISO is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors.

The ISO quality standard is a kind of worldwide recognized calling card. It tells other companies that you are a professional, quality-driven organization that should be taken seriously. Even if you are a very small company, having the ISO certificate can give you a serious advantage over your competitors.

The ISO quality standard requires organizations to document their quality system, including having a manual and documented procedures. Documentation is what you say you do. Records must be kept, and periodic audits performed, to prove that you are "doing what you say".

There are other benefits to getting ISO certified. The ISO quality standard is aimed at increasing your quality, decreasing mistakes, decreasing returns, and increasing customer satisfaction. In today's increasingly competitive business environment, customer satisfaction is more important than ever. An ISO quality system provides an organized framework for improving your organization, and improving your customers' satisfaction with your product or service.

ISO Certifications

Lean Management

2010-03-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

Lean management is the driving force behind lean regardless of the industry, size or the nature of your organization. In simple terms lean management is managing your organization according to the concepts and principles of lean. This is about using lean tools and techniques to achieve your goals with a true lean vision. Although seems simple managing an organization the lean way has its challenges. The first and the most important challenge is in bringing the cultural change in your organization. Lean will challenge most of your traditional values and practices. It will pull people out from their comfort zones. On the other hand lean will manage the organizations in more process oriented manner for an example. Lean management is about understanding the simple yet powerful concepts behind lean and application of them in your context. Using lean tools to support your organization and using your people effectively in achieving your goals.

"Lean management is an art one should perfect with time and with the understanding about lean manufacturing. Lean leaders will be the most important asset to any organization in its lean journey".

Lean Management