HSE Vodafone Quality Management Organization

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Introduction

Business marketing procedures have taken different approaches. Conventionally, the management of safety, health, and the environment of work were not thought to relate in any way to promoting the welfare of any company. Globalization has induced huge competition and business organizations are trying very hard to have a competitive advantage and enhance market sustainability. Such companies as Vodafone Group in the United Kingdom have included the concept of HSE policy to deal with these challenges [2]. This goes beyond the search for profits. HSE is a model where organizations make deliberate choices to guard the concern of their stakeholders while seeking to promote cleaner environments of work and uplift the community through active participation with all in the organization.

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The HSE concept is an obligation taken on by business companies to manage the responsibility they play in promoting the welfare of everybody in the work place [1]. The HSE measures in Vodafone Group are among the key factors that strengthen the financial worth of their services. Vodafone Group has employed the benefits of HSE in promoting its service quality through the employees to the esteemed customers. Elements that Vodafone Group has included in brand service valuation take into account profit margins, changing market share, logos recognition as well as other visual elements that include brand language connections, the opinions of the consumers on quality issues, and other relatable brand qualities.

Problem Statements

Marketing and brand development has gone beyond promotions and advertisement alone. Business organizations are linking up with communities and the government to enhance their operations. The HSE model as used by many companies in providing quality services has been a common practice in today’s business world. As a matter of fact, business organizations like Vodafone need to implement effective strategies, which will facilitate the creation and maintenance of the quality of service and products in their efforts of marketing [1,2]. HSE has become a very powerful tool in quality management. This depicts that HSE approach is a fundamental factor for Vodafone in brand development. With extensive product innovation, development, and entry into emerging markets, HSE policy has been affected. Legal requirements and enforcement have contributed a lot in the efforts made by Vodafone. This is usually based on how effectively any country acknowledges and directs the implementation of HSE policies.

Objectives

In order to tackle effectively this topic of study, the research paper was governed by the following objectives:

  1. To define HSE in work environments
  2. To discuss HSE in total quality management
  3. To discuss the benefits and challenges of safe and health work environments
  4. To describe the current development of HSE issues in management
  5. To identify companies’ perceptions of HSE
  6. To propose improvement and implementation of HSE measures in creating sustainable company progress

Health, Safety and Environmental Management

HSE

The work environment has had a considerable impact on the performance level of employees. Good company organization coupled with HSE functions promotes the welfare of any company both internally and in the market. The psychological welfare of the employee relates very well to both individual and organization’s performance [3,4]. HSE management plays a significant role in modeling the attitudes of employees in the work place.

In case of personal injury, Kulchartchai and Hadikusumo states that the Standard of HSE training must reflect proper risk assessment, aside the fact that effective training will add up to making workers knowledgeable about HSE [3]. It can help business avoid the grief caused by ill-health and accidents. Moreover, the effective training can help stay away from the financial costs occasioned by injuries and ill health as insurance doesn’t cover all these costs [3]. Wasted products, de-motivated staff, and lost production can be realized decreasing the quality of production.

In safety culture development, Thomson Reuters Healthcare Indexes illustrate the difficulties in developing safety cultures in industries, especially construction [4]. Their findings show that successful practice depends on the workers, characteristics of work, subcontractors, supervisors, and external factors. The problems identified in their case study are the involvement of unskilled workers, safe working habits, and high worker turnover. Recommended remedy is to encourage workers to be fully involved in safety programs implementation.

In effect, is proper risk assessment enough for adequate training in the context of a regulation on HSE as enacted by the U.K. Statutory Instruments? More importantly, training on HSE is encouraged by informing the employee in a detailed fashion of all possible hazards of work condition. Periodic risk assessments of tools and equipment as well as refresher training given to staff are crucial. In effect, this can go a long way to safeguard the company from any legal claim on its adequacy of ensuring the HSE of employees and people affected by its business operations.

Quality Management through HSE at Vodafone

The development of quality management is often described in the literature as a four-stage process. Initially, it starts with inspection during the industrialization and mass production. Secondly, it touches on quality control (QC) which began during the Second World War and, especially in Japan, after the war. The emphasis of the second stage lies on the manufacturing process, which is systematically developed. The stage that follows is the quality assurance (QA), which incorporates the entire development and manufacturing process of a product as a factor affecting quality. Total quality management (TQM) comes in the last stage where quality is seen in a holistic and strategic manner [5]. At this point, the responsibility for quality was extended to include everyone in the organization, and the role of the corporate management becomes central. This is where the telecom industry has come in putting in place HSE concerns.

During the last decade, Vodafone has maintained a reasonable record on safety, health, and environmental management. However, the expansion in emerging market centers and the use of the most demanding and rigorous tracking approaches highlighted a high level of accidents that was beyond acceptance in 2010 [2]. The most affected countries were India, Turkey, and Ghana. These markets were reported to get a legacy of poor safety infrastructure and safety practice as well as a high rate of road traffic fatalities. Specifically, ensuring that Vodafone contractors manage safety and health in an effective manner is of great concern. Contractors’ work together with that of the sub-contractors has plagued Vodafone efforts. The table below shows changes that were realized in December, 2011 [1].

Discussion

Many people are injured and killed in workplace accidents. Moreover, many suffer from illnesses which develop because of the work conditions. The latter can also damage employee’s heath. Prevention of accidents or occupational hazards is very important and must be a key priority to everyone at work. Hence; it is crucial for business management to know that optimum HSE enhance the competence of employees and is valuable in quality assurance and organizational reputation at large.

The consequence of inadequate risk assessment could result in criminal negligence. HSE training is thus of paramount importance to ensure that work functions will not cause injuries or harm health. Using trainings will develop and maintain a positive HSE culture, where adherences to safe-healthy working measures become habit of everyone [1]. It would have a considerable impact as companies discover and develop how to exercise control over HSE better while making an effort to meet legal obligations to guard the HSE of people that work for the business.

HSE responsibility cannot be outsourced. It should be ensured by an official in an organization who is qualified to do so. Hence, it is important not to outsource the responsibility of HSE because the law prohibits the outsourcing of HSE responsibility. Furthermore, effectiveness of monitoring, assessing and regulating HSE conditions in operations is enhanced when the official responsible to do so is indigenous to the operations [1,4]. The law court does not recognize a third party (outside the organization) for the responsibility of ensuring HSE. Thus, any negligence on the part of the outsource HSE contractor is caused by the organization that delegated the duty. Therefore, such organization should face the consequences implicated by the law. Subcontracting or outsourcing of a high risk related work is automatically transferred to the subcontractor. In this case, who bears the main responsibility to ensure proper HSE? Management practices and control measures have huge impact on HSE.

Total quality management is a philosophical entity of the concept of management and a compilation of quality management methods and techniques. Some studies refer to the hard and soft sides of TQM. Total quality management is an approach to the management of an organization in which quality plays a central role and which is based on the participation of all of its members [1,3]. The goal is long-term success, which can be achieved through customer satisfaction, and all members of the organization as well as society will benefit from it.

If the safety climate of the employees is well addressed, the behavior of the employees towards their responsibilities in the organization will be enhanced. The result of such an approach in addressing the welfare of the employees is improved performance which adds an attractive picture to the company’s product in matters of quality and the company in general. Broader outcomes in the business process are well facilitated through the provision of good working climate.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The implementation of HSE measures brings greater benefits to the organization than having them as separate management systems. Their results have showed a particularly large difference in customer satisfaction. In 2010, Vodafone reported significant challenges in delivering a sustainable society where business and the stakeholders can have lasting existence in the economy [2]. This was realized amidst stable economies in most countries where Vodafone operates. The absence of a legally binding universal agreement on matters of climate change was discussed recently in Copenhagen together with the absence of progress on a number of the most pressing matters affecting billions of individuals in emerging centers. There has been the challenge of a cohesive approach that brings together the private and public sector to meet societal needs.

Research has shown the significant impact that is made on economic and social development. Vodafone has made a big contribution to development and to the sustainability of the environment through the support of a low-carbon society – through bespoke services and products that address particular needs in local markets. The realization of such opportunities by Vodafone have led to the establishment of dedicated business functions that focus on solutions of health, low carbon enabling machine-to-machine services together with mobile transfer services.

The persistent need of organizations and companies to incessantly establish operations, efficiency, and competitiveness has resulted in the need for system thinking. Fulfilling the diverse requirements of various stakeholders uses different approaches. The constant increase of these requirements has highlighted the need for a systematic approach to handle them. This has led to a dramatic increase in the development of management systems. These help control systems and provide systematic ways to standardize functions. This would be a remarkable effort made by Vodafone.

Summary

Industrial Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) management policy in companies and organizations has formed a part of major development in modern marketing processes. In the modern world trends, telecommunication companies have been plagued by the failure to implement such issues of safety, health, and environment that are used in the quality control of services and products [1]. It is important to note the way these two affect the welfare of the employee and later translate in quality services and products that ensure customer satisfaction. This paper considers a case of Vodafone Group highlighting the impact created by HSE implementation on quality of services and products [2]. It was generally observed that HSE is a great motivator for employees who turn out in producing good quality services and products resulting in customer satisfaction and high business returns.