Committed to Total Quality Management

TQM is a management philosophy that seeks to integrate all organizational functions to focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives. Examples of organizational functions include marketing, finance, design, engineering, production and customer services. 

TQM views organizations as a collection of processes. It maintains that organizations must strive to continuously improve these processes by incorporating the knowledge and experiences of the workers.

The organizations that belief in traditional quality control techniques and the way they are done to resolve their quality problems will take extended period of time, and perhaps fail in the face stiff competition. Hiring additional inspectors, tightening up the standards, developing correction and repair, and rewarding teams do not promote quality. Traditionally, quality has been regarded as the responsibility of Quality Control department; it has not yet been recognized that massive quality problems originate in the service and administrative areas. 

Total quality management is an approach to improving the effectiveness and flexibility of businesses as a whole. It is essentially a way of organizing and involving the whole organization, every department, activity, and all organizational publics at every level. For an organization to be truly effective, each together, recognizing that every person and every activity affects and in turn is affected by others is an ingredient of quality success. 

Errors have a way of multiplying, and failure to meet the requirements in one part or area creates problems elsewhere. This leads to yet more errors, more problems and so on. The benefits of getting it right first time everywhere are enormous.

TQM strives to meet customer requirements and gives people in different functions in an organization a common language for improvement. It enables all the people with different abilities and priorities to communicate readily with one another in pursuit of a common goal. Modern business, unlike traditional artisanship, is complex and requires many different specialist skills that everyone has to rely on the activities of others in doing their jobs.

Insurance Regulatory Authority to Train Agents across the Country

The collaboration between the Insurance Regulatory Authority and the College of Insurance to train insurance agents across the 47 counties is the greatest opportunity that the public members should exploit. The objective of the partnering endeavor is to train, examine, and issue certificates of proficiency in insurance to the public and insurance agents. IRA and College of Insurance intends to impact knowledge of insurance to all Kenyans in order to enable them earn income through carrying out the selling insurance policies. The training will also enlighten the public on the necessity of buying insurance to meet their own needs.

In my previous works, I had pointed out that lack of knowledge about the existence and necessity of insurance among the public has been the main hindrance to growth of insurance industry. Coming across this opportunity has given me a sense of delight because my fellow Kenyans have the chances to be enlightened. We are no longer going to live like those days of our grandparents when there was no hope beyond a misfortune. Additionally, IRA and College of Insurance (thank God we have such caring corporations) have made the training free of charge. Most of us may think that the training is meant to benefit the insurance stakeholders; however, the training will be critical to us the public members in the long-run.

Sammy Makove, the Commissioner of Insurance Regulatory Authority, argued that the acceptance of insurance services by local investors is a critical milestone in guaranteeing economic growth and stability. This is because insurance protects businesses from closure due to calamities. Makove added that training of insurance agencies will create demand for insurance services through sensitization and increase supply of insurance policies through the agents.

Let me assume that the training has enlightened me on the importance of having an insurance cover. The next step is to visit the nearest insurance company and invest whatever small amount I have in my pocket. Currently, I have no formal employment from where the government can deduct money for my pension. Twenty years later after old age has stricken and I have stopped selling carrots in Githurai Kimbo, I will have saved a sum equal to 2,000x12x20=sh. 480,000. With this “little” sum of money, I will not find myself stealing “KANU” (cock) from Alexander’s home, just as Makoha did (in this Vioja Mahakamani clip I am watching in the IRA website). Since most people do not have financial discipline, keeping money “out of reach of spendthrift fingers” is the only option for discipline reinstatement.

Insurance agents training in Kirinyaga County will take place between 7^th and 18^th of October 2013. The training has been done in other counties such as Kitui, and will be implemented in all counties across the country. In Kitui alone, 105 participants received certificates from the College of Insurance. I understand that information begins to flow to one person, who in turn transmits the whole lot to the following generations. I want to see a country where every citizen has some form insurance for his or her own benefit. Banks and other financial institutions cannot instill proper financial discipline among us since withdrawals are not very strict. When I studied a small course in Insurance, I noted that without insurance the nation heads nowhere. The main reason for this is that the dependence ratio especially at old age reduces the funds available for savings and investment. According to Sammy Makove, “a stable business environment that is devoid of threats by calamities would create wealth and expedite the achievement of Vision 2030.”

The training is open to Kenyans over 18 years of age, literate and able to communicate in English. After two weeks, successful candidates are awarded Executive Certificate of Proficiency (ECOP). The training will enable the trainee to obtain employment using the ECOP. Another benefit of the training is that it will provide an additional source of income for those already engaged in other trades. The best of all is that there will be increased knowledge and understanding of insurance among the members of the public.

MISSING MARKS IN KENYATTA UNIVERSITY-Someone Must Intervene

This has been a challenge for quite some time. I have always heard people talk about it and never believed the intensity of the issue until I recently befell a victim. It is irritating, really irritating for one to undergo such a trauma, especially after you are through with campus. Imagine someone completed his or her studies and went home at Bungoma. The exams are released, the marks are missing online. Are you aware how long this lady or gent will suffer before the marks are fixed? A million trips to and from the university are not enough to find the solution. I heard that others missed lifetime employment opportunities and even graduating because of careless mistakes of those responsible for taking care of examination booklets. We performed our responsibility of doing our exams, who has the responsibility of taking care of the marks?

                                                                     

I think there is a system breakdown somewhere. Lecturers do not want to cooperate and sympathize with poor students who have spent on roads to and from the university everyday to come and find their missing marks. I have witnessed people shading bitter tears of frustration because of this, and no administrator has ever been able to address the issue. What angers me more is the promises that are usually given by the lecturers when you meet them, “just go back home, tomorrow you will find your marks.” Seven days down the line, no marks. And you have to spend additional KSH.3,000 to come and beg uncooperative lecturers to search for your missing marks.  

Sometimes people repeat the units to get new marks when tired of begging for the missing marks. Frustrating enough, their earlier booklets are rotting somewhere in the store. In some cases, after spending months and years in the corridors of the departments, you may get your marks. The question is: where do these marks come from? Where have they been for all this time? Why did whoever tracing them now not do it at the time of entering the marks? The conclusion here is that even those who end up repeating the units, their marks are rotting somewhere in the store. The only problem is that someone is lazy and does not want to assume the responsibility of locating the exam booklets wherever he or she kept them.

I agree that mistakes belong to human beings. When making entries, a human being can jump a name or put aside a booklet before entering the marks into the system. This, coupled with the ‘I do not know which’ law requires the booklet to be strictly hidden from candidates after marking, is really concealing millions of inefficiencies in the examination process. Examiners fail to be careful because they know that candidates will never discover these inefficiencies. This is Africa, I think we need to collectively call for the revision of this “law” and avail the booklets to the students after marking. Even if it means making additional payments, it is better than the suffering people undergo with missing marks and wrong grades.

This kind of victimization need to be addressed and a long-term solution be found. If you want to know what I am talking about, tour the corridors of the departments in our university. Angry students looking for their missing marks can slab you because of frustrations if you approach to them carelessly. Consider the time we are wasting, which could have been put into productive economic activities. Consider the money we are spending everyday to and from the university, which could have been invested elsewhere for productive gains. Consider the pains that people undergo, which could transform to trauma. Then let the administration take countermeasures to mitigate the problem of missing marks to allow students and those awaiting graduation have peace of mind.

Freelance Writing Jobs-Why Many People Opt to Write Online

You are your own boss

Freelancing means freedom. There will be no boss to question you why were you late on a particular day or why did you take a leave without permission. You can adjust your working hours. Some people work best early in the mornings. Others are night owls. Freelancing will allow you to choose your own timings, work when you work best. Also, you can do freelance writing from any place you want provided it has a computer and an Internet connection. Many people do it while travelling the world.

Do what you love, love what you do              

There is much debate amongst experts on whether you should choose a career in a niche which you love or you should grab a well-paying job that is being offered to you from a different niche. Both sides have their proponents. No matter on which issues they disagree, but both sides agree that if you are able to make a decent money in something that you love, you must take it. So if writing is your passion, freelance writing allows you the opportunity to do something that you love and earn money from it. Besides unlike other mundane professions like of call center employees and receptionists, writing lets you continue your education even after college. As a freelance writer you will have some flexibility in choosing the topics on which you want to write and hence you can choose the ones which interest you the most and the research that you will do for the articles will impart you with a lot of knowledge.  There is no guarantee that you will enjoy every moment of your work, but choosing a career in something that you love will make life easier.

Make as much money as you want

Spend some time in business school and you will learn that it is impossible to become a millionaire by working in a 9 to 5 job. This is because your day job will pay you the same amount no matter how hard you work. That is a constraint on your earning capabilities.
In case of freelancing the more you work the more you will earn. You have the full control of how much money you want to make per hour. Also, most freelance writers do entrepreneurial activities on the side such as writing ebooks, tutoring online, selling video courses, etc. This lets them earn even when they are asleep.

You can choose your Clients

If a client is too demanding, if he needs ten revisions before he finalizes an article and never pays you on time you can always walk out. You can stop working with him at any time. Unlike a day job, you are not bound under any terms and conditions imposed by your employer such as serving a notice period.  Similarly, if you get a nice client who is always humble and courteous to you, who is satisfied with your work and never creates a fuss on payment you may want to keep him for life by giving him some discount and being extra careful with his projects. Of course, you can’t choose the people you want to work with in a full-time job.

You are running your own business

This is a very important factor. When you are working for a company, your work is helping that company grow and cherish. Whatever hard work, whatever ideas, whatever intense research has gone into your writing will only help that company prosper. You will just be paid a fixed amount and that is it. On the other hand if you are a freelance writer then most probably your “office” is your freelance account. Starting a business and then seeing it develop and cherish is like planting a tree and then seeing it grow tall and large. No other emotion can match this feeling.

Focus on our education systems: Another reason why graduates come out half-baked

The problem of graduates’ insufficiency has been a major subject of discussion for many days.  Most critiques have directed blames to lack of practicality of the curriculum, while others are complaining that graduates are not exposed to practicals that can enable them to gain skills and experiences required in the job market. As much as I agree with these arguments, I also add one more argument.

I am just out of campus, and now searching for jobs. As I was busy looking for a job, I met a friend, who introduced me to what they call “freelance writing jobs.” Here, writers create accounts and help international do their research assignments. Some of the companies I have come to know include Essay writers, Asia writers, Academia and Writer bay, among others. When I look at the kind of questions these students are given to research on, I like their structural component and the practicality of the tasks. The best thing I love about it is the strictness about “plagiarism” and grammar. For those who do not understand what “plagiarism” is, it means copying other authors’ creative writings and presenting them as your own work. In developed countries, instructors have softwares that are used to check plagiarism such as copyscape, grammarly and grammarbase. These softwares are also very strict on grammar. They can identify redundant information and unnoticed grammatical errors including copy-pasted works.

The question to ask ourselves here is that what is the importance of these softwares in the Kenyan context? I remember well when I was in campus; there was no big deal with assignments and term papers. Assignments were too many and exhausting. The solution was to visit internet, open common pages like Wikipedia and copy-paste whatever was there about the question. I never took time to read whatever I sent to the lecturer to mark. Due to large numbers of students in public universities (like the one I attended), lecturers would not be in a position to read thorough all papers. This, plus the inability to strictly invigilate exams, led to laziness and lack of creativity on the side of the students (including myself).

Now, what is the solution to this? I think the best thing to do here is to look for ways of enhancing graduates’ creativity. To achieve this, I would propose that all universities come up with plagiarism-checker to discourage students from copy-pasting the works of others and avoid extensive reading. This would make students to read exactly what they want to paraphrase. This is because paraphrasing means extensive reading on the subject matter. Likewise, grammar-checkers would discourage redundancy explanations. The habit of writing “anything” to fill the pages would also cease. Additionally, lecturers should avoid giving assignments with direct questions and answers. Leacturers should use case studies to set questions and instruct students to give answers based on those case studies. To avoid the problem of copying other students’ work, lecturers need to design mechanisms of giving different questions to every student and no two students should do similar questions. This will enhance creativity and a habit of reading. To some extent, graduates will make a step as we are searching for better methods enhancing educational strategies to meet the vision 2030 standards. Though students will turn to seeking services of writers, most of them will change due to costs involved in having their assignments completed.

                                                                             Makworo G. Wycliffe