The Challenge Case points out that MidwayUSA has been faced with finding creative ways to deliver ever-improving quality. In essence, founder Larry Potterfield and his management team must seek original ideas or ideas based on existing conditions at MidwayUSA that will help to meet this challenge. The ideas must be not only original but also useful and actionable. That is, the ideas must help MidwayUSA become more productive, communicate more effectively, achieve better coordination, and improve customer and employee satisfaction. Such ideas are important because they will help MidwayUSA break away from old rules and norms about accomplishing tasks. At MidwayUSA, the expertise, motivation level, and creative thinking skills of the organization members will be the foundation on which creative ideas will be conceived.

Information in this appendix provides insights to Potterfield and his managers regarding how to encourage creativity within the company. For example, managers at MidwayUSA can encourage creativity by making sure workers are challenged just enough. Although workers’ abilities should be stretched, demands on workers should not overwhelm them and result in their giving up on being creative. Also, managers should make sure that workers have an appropriate level of freedom in their jobs. Workers who have such freedom are prone to experiment somewhat to find creative solutions to job challenges.

One of the most important steps MidwayUSA managers can take to encourage creativity in organization members is to manage time pressure carefully. Depending on whether MidwayUSA organization members feel they’re on autopilot, on an expedition, on a mission, or on a treadmill, time pressure might encourage or discourage creativity. MidwayUSA managers must therefore find the right combination of time pressure and other organizational conditions to make sure that creativity is encouraged within the company.

MidwayUSA management should focus not only on searching for creative ideas but also on innovating, or putting those ideas into action. As an example, assume that to shorten the time it takes to fill orders, MidwayUSA has decided to set up a new computerized system for order processing. Computerized order processing would indeed be creative—a new, useful, actionable idea. This idea is not a product idea (an invention that focuses on developing new products) but is rather a process improvement. After generating the new process idea, MidwayUSA’s managers must develop the idea, or make it serviceable. This includes ideas for whether to develop the order-processing software in-house, hire someone to develop it, or buy existing software, along with plans for training employees how to use the system. Once the idea is made serviceable, it must be diffused. The company might train one or a few people in how to use the new system, and then those people could train and support other users. Once the new system is integrated into the organization, it must be monitored to make sure it continues to contribute to organizational success.

MidwayUSA management has learned that expertise in total quality management—in this case, developed in the course of meeting state and national award criteria—can serve as a stimulus for generating creative ideas within the company. Applying TQM requires that managers educate themselves and other organization members about what this commitment entails. All members of MidwayUSA should know that product and service quality and adherence to specifications for the company’s processes must be maintained. For every process through which the company serves customers—by answering phones, maintaining the website, keeping an adequate stock of merchandise, filling orders, and so on—there must be specifications for high-quality performance. MidwayUSA organization members should realize that TQM needs to be a continuous process that involves everyone within the company, from Larry Potterfield to the newest warehouse worker.

MidwayUSA has much to gain from maintaining high-quality service. High quality gives the company a positive image both inside and outside the organization. Such an image can be especially valuable when an organization is trying to recruit new and talented management. High quality can also reduce costs associated with errors and waste and help the company gain market share. Last, MidwayUSA’s high quality can decrease liability costs; for example, good safety processes can reduce liability associated with injuries, and accurate compliance with gun laws can prevent liability for mistakes in that area. To maximize the benefit of high product quality, MidwayUSA has applied for and won the Malcolm Baldrige Award.

MidwayUSA’s managers can deliberate on continuing to improve quality either incrementally or through reengineering. Incremental involvement would focus on improving MidwayUSA’s quality slowly and over time. It could involve steps such as targeting one process at MidwayUSA for improvement, establishing a quality improvement team to effect desired improvements, identifying benchmarks or standards for quality, comparing current operations with the benchmarks, and performing a pilot study to see whether formulated improvement activities are effective and efficient. Improvements that deliver the desired results would become normal operating procedure. Reengineering improvement would focus on improving quality through more drastic improvement in the nearer term.

MidwayUSA’s managers can study the work of Crosby and Deming to gain possible new ideas for implementing and maintaining the company’s quality improvement process. Such ideas might include building an organization culture that has a bias for handling quality issues quickly and thoroughly, dedicating top management to having customers receive all products as promised, and training organization members in how to improve process quality.