Corporate Sustainability: PDCA and the 4Sight Approach Paper Example

Introduction

Also known as the Deming Cycle, the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) remains the most significant tool for consistency in quality enhancement in various organizations. This is achieved through its quality of a 4sight approach in which everything is assumed to fall into its right place, and goes as planned (Guistiniano, 2018). In my organization, the technique is used for student evaluation across the state, and this enables the study on how to improve the performance in various schools.

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The 4Sight Approach: The Plan

The planning process is the genesis of the technique, and it revolves around the definition of goals, targets as well as objectives (Guistiniano, 2018). In this dimension, the approach given by PDCA aims at anticipating, predicting or rather, preparing the organization for the future. In my organization, the primary objective is initiating, or rather, facilitating a process that sees academic improvement among public schools in my state. In this part, the model works in three distinct dimensions as it targets the students, educational experts as well as parents. The planning process is informed by the results obtained from the critical analysis of data regarding the subject of the matter (Basu, 2009). In this case, there is a critical analysis of the students' performance in all public schools in the state. Following this is the comparison of the results from each school, and this helps the technical team to narrow down to specific factors, such as absenteeism, indiscipline cases among students, lack of concentration during lessons, general carelessness, less parental involvement in educational matters, or lack of educational resources needed for academic excellence, causing the poor performance. To a larger extent, this stage determines almost every other critical activity that will be adopted to improve academic excellence among students. For instance, if it is established that students lack educational resources and support, this will mean that schools will be assessed to determine which resources, and how much is required by each school.

The Do Stage

This is the action-packed stage of the process as it revolves around the execution of the plans developed (Martini & James, 2012). The approach facilitating this process involves the interpretations of the prevailing conditions and consequently developing appropriate response (Guistiniano, 2018). This is much relevant in educational systems where the various cause of poor performance is easily detected. Having identified the lack of resources as the primary factor triggering poor performance in public schools, the next step is developing a response aiming at solving the shortage of resources. However, interpretation of the circumstance in various schools reveals detailed information about the specific need of every school, and this is because the shortages of resources could vary from one school to another.

For instance, analyzing the student population between school A and B will reveal population disparity in the two schools. Thus, if school post high student population than B, it will require more resources than the latter. Alternatively, analyzing the amounts of learning materials such as stationery as well as learning equipment such as furniture is crucial. To this end, the do phase is more of implementation or execution of the interventions that will eventually drive schools towards academic excellence (Guidet, Valentin & Flaatten, 2016). Likewise, any other organization seeking to boost its performance much intervenes, through actions, after successful planning.

The "Check" Phase

In this phase, there is measurement and evaluation of the results, amounting from the interventions, against the defined objectives, goals and anticipated targets (Guistiniano, 2018). The essence of this element is to ascertain that there is actual improvement transpiring following the interventions initiated. Consider the scenario where the ministry of education conducts an assessment of the results posted by public schools following the allocation of resources. Largely, the primary objective here is to test the effectivity of allocation theses resources, and the results of the test informs the ministry what else should be done to improve the situation (Pena-Ayala, 2014). It may happen that the resources could be availed to these schools but they are not underutilized. For instance, teachers could be hired, but they may not be getting along with the students. Alternatively, it may turn out that books were delivered to the schools but students have not been issued with the books.

In such a manner, our organization, as mandated by the law to asses educational affairs, will take measures that will see successful ironing of such shortcomings. For instance, the organization will make sure that there is the development of student-teacher relationship as well as the distribution of learning materials to the students. In this fashion, the organization will demand that every teacher must equally distribute textbooks and other reference materials to all students, and keep a record of the process. This is because the organization will go through the records, and subsequently countercheck with the students whether or not the records are valid (Monk & Wagner, 2012). In this way, it becomes easy to determine the next cause of poor performance because the organization will wait for the results from examinations. In cases where there is sufficient supply of learning resources to the students, the blame may land on the teaching staff. However, if resources are adequately and equally distributed among students and yet they post poor results, the organization will still have much to do to reveal the cause of the poor performance. In this case, there is an investigation of seriousness among students as well as a commitment to learning. If there are low commitment levels and lack of seriousness among students, the organization goes back to the drawing board to draft measures of imparting this quality among students. It is also hindsight through which the organization, from experiences, learn how to deal with such issues in the future, or rather, prepare how to iron issues pertaining the do phase of PDCA (Guistiniano, 2018).

The "Act" Phase

This is the final phase of the PDCA, and here, the results obtained in the pilot study inform the implementation of the various possible solutions to the problems arising from the subject of the matter. This process goes down comprehensively and ensures that the whole institution is covered (Kallenbach, 2015). Ideally, this means that the model does not only focus on the mainstream issues affecting student performance but also stretches to iron other issues that need solutions. For instance, the learning materials could be supplied to the students. However, the classrooms may also need some renovations such as painting as well as replacement of some furniture.

Conclusion

The PDCA model is an ideal tool for improving performance in institutions. In my organization, an education oversight authority, it is used to facilitate academic performance in schools across the state. In the process, the model is used to determine the probable causes of poor performance in public schools, and consequently develop solutions that arrest the poor performance.

References

Basu, R. (2009). Implementing Six Sigma and Lean. Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=E4z4nKWOXMkC&pg=PA141&dq=pdca+example&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiGkrCIwOjgAhX08OAKHaPWCQMQ6AEIOTAD#v=onepage&q=pdca%20example&f=false

Giustiniano, L. (2018). Elgar introduction to theories of organizational resilience. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, [2018]. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=JqV-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT85&dq=pdca+introduction&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBsZSG2ejgAhXVAWMBHabaBbAQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=pdca%20introduction&f=false

Guidet, B., Valentin, A., & Flaatten, H. (2016). Quality Management in Intensive Care. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=T1RyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA207&dq=pdca+interpretation+of+data&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPss7q4-jgAhWRlRQKHSQhA3YQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=pdca%20interpretation%20of%20data&f=false

Kallenbach, J. Z. (2015). Review of Hemodialysis for Nurses and Dialysis Personnel. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Health Sciences. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=TDZ5E56kuNoC&pg=PA346&dq=the+importance+of+the+act+stage+of+pdca&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYyM747OjgAhWG2OAKHdZvCuoQ6AEIRjAF#v=onepage&q=the%20importance%20of%20the%20act%20stage%20of%20pdca&f=false

Martini, N., & James, G. (2012). Scientific selling: Creating high-performance sales teams through applied psychology and testing. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=AnbnseAutb0C&pg=PT117&dq=pdca+example&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiLg46vwOjgAhW05OAKHZvKBAk4ChDoAQgnMAA#v=onepage&q=pdca%20example&f=false

Monk, E., & Wagner, B. (2012). Concepts in enterprise resource planning. Cengage Learning. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=AWAJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT75&dq=record+keeping+as+an+evidence+to+distribution+of+resources&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpia-Q6OjgAhUGQRQKHUFuDCQQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=record%20keeping%20as%20an%20evidence%20to%20distribution%20of%20resources&f=false

Pena-Ayala, A. (2014). Educational data mining: Applications and trends. Cham : Springer, 2014. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=AhS6BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA108&dq=pdca+interpretation+of+data&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPss7q4-jgAhWRlRQKHSQhA3YQ6AEIQDAE#v=onepage&q=pdca%20interpretation%20of%20data&f=false