IKEA Company Total Quality Management

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The Problem
The Source of the Problem
The Key Players of Decision Making
The Policies and Strategies Undertaken
Proposed Solutions
Effects on Stakeholders
Works Cited

Introduction

IKEA is a Sweden furniture company that was founded by Ingvar Kamprad and has evolved into a global giant which operates in 42 countries (Pasquel et al.). IKEA seeks for ways of providing “democratic design”, that is, creating stylish and affordable products with the help of cost-saving materials and technologies (“The IKEA Concept” par. 4). After Gillis Lundgren suggested “taking the legs off” a table, IKEA provides its products in flat packs and, as a result, is capable of minimizing the costs of their storage and transportation (“The IKEA Concept” par. 10). According to IKEA vision, furniture must be safe and environmentally friendly. Throughout the stages of new product development, the issues of safety, environmental safety, and quality are taken into account. This is why Total Quality Management (TQM) is a significant part of IKEA policy.

The Problem

Pasquel et al. provide a critical evaluation of TQM in IKEA. According to the authors, TQM is a “comprehensive and structured approach to organizational management that seeks to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing refinements in response to continuous feedback” (Pasquel et al.). The authors point out that quality of the products is a major concern for IKEA, and specific procedures have been developed and implemented to ensure creating safe and high-quality goods. Given the price of IKEA products, customers appear to be satisfied with their quality; apart from that the consumers seem to value the wide variety of products (colors, sizes) and enjoy the showrooms that provide ideas for room furnishing.

However, as Pasquel et al. point out, the quality of IKEA service has significant drawbacks. The authors emphasize the problems of layout and structure of the stores that, according to them, are not efficient or customer-friendly. The situation is worsened by the fact that finding a staff member to solve a problem is rather difficult, and the investigators concluded that these issues require revision.

The Source of the Problem

The sources of the problems appear to be multidimensional. The problem of staff finding might be connected to the attempts of reducing costs that are of primary importance for IKEA. The layout difficulties may stem both from poor ergonomics management (that could be the result of cost-saving as well) and the specifics of the stores that, as has been mentioned, provide a wide variety of products.

The Key Players of Decision Making

Since the problem is generic for IKEA stores, the key players in decision making, in this case, are the upper-level managers. They need to address the problem and provide a solution that would be implemented in the stores around the world. At the same time, as Pasquel et al. mention, IKEA has been implementing the “quality circles” strategy that is based on employee involvement. Quality circles are voluntary groups of employees who are trained in problem-solving. Groups may include up to 6 people, and all the problem-solving stages are taken into account, from identification to the implementation of solutions. The quality circles promote the ideals of continuous improvement, self-development, team spirit, and involve employees in the decision-making process.

The Policies and Strategies Undertaken

According to Pasquel et al., IKEA has introduced a self-serve area that involves attaching specific tags to the product that can be used to retrieve the product from the warehouse on one’s own. This policy is meant to solve the problem of retrieving the staff members, which is reasonable. However, the implementation of the strategy has caused new difficulties. The main problem of the self-serving is the fact that it is very time- and effort-consuming, which is not appreciated by the customers.

Proposed Solutions

To improve the implemented strategy, Pasquel et al. suggest adopting Radio Frequency Identification guns as well as Argos and Amazons conveyor belts to facilitate the shopping and paying processes as well as the delivery of the products from the warehouse. The two implementations are already being used by Tesco; the former reduces the necessity of consultations from the staff and facilitates the payment process while the latter minimizes the time needed to retrieve the bought products. According to Pasquel et al., these suggestions are consistent with the Kaizen method of continuous improvement and Deming’s 14 principles as well as IKEA vision and are bound to ensure the company’s success.

While the proposed solutions appear to be most reasonable, they do not address every aspect of the problem. The staff availability challenge is indeed addressed very comprehensively, but the problem of navigation is not. It is obvious that reorganization of the existing stores would require a vast amount of resources; therefore, to implement any kind of innovation in this respect, a consistent study of the navigation possibilities should be carried out.

It should be concerned both with the layout of the stores and the navigation means that are being used. The means efficiency must be evaluated with the help of customer surveys and, possibly, expert analysis. The information could be used for future stores; as for the existing ones, the advantages and disadvantages of reorganization should be weighted for every particular store by its management members. Given IKEA suggestions for employee involvement, employees could also be encouraged to participate in decision-making. These are long-term suggestions; in the short term the “quality circles” could be used to develop a system of navigation promotion means, including maps, flyers and consultations in case such a system does not exist in a store.

Effects on Stakeholders

Given the fact that the defined problem affects the customers and the staff members, the suggested solutions are going to affect these two groups directly. The implementations suggested by Pasquel et al. would be expected to facilitate the buying and paying processes and make customers’ IKEA-related experiences more positive. These implementations can also facilitate the working processes for the staff members in the long run; in the short run, however, the effect could be the opposite.

The implementation of the new technologies would require new training for the employees. Apart from that, some time would be necessary for the customers to get used to the innovation as well, and, most certainly, the employees will be expected to help the consumers. It should also be pointed out that certain groups of customers might be discouraged by the change. The employees, therefore, would be expected to explain the benefits of the new technologies; advertising campaigns might be required for that as well.

In the long run, however, the two groups of the stakeholders are expected to benefit from the change. The employees will be able to work more efficiently which will improve their productivity; the customers satisfaction will increase, and as the result, the company as a whole is bound to profit.

As for the suggestions concerning layout improvement, given the fact that this is a major problem for the company, eliminating it is vital for all the stakeholders. Still, the improvement will be particularly important for the consumers since it is them who has to face the problem most often.

Works Cited

Pasquel, Erika, et al. “Total Quality Management (TQM) as practiced in IKEA.” Online video clip. YouTube. 2014. Web.

“The IKEA Concept.” IKEA.com. Inter IKEA Systems B.V., 2015. Web.

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