TQM APPLICATION IN TANZANIAN SPORTS

"Football in Tanzania"

The World of today has witnessed the rise of sports as one of the palatable business. Tanzanians’ mentality has changed abruptly following the benefits accruing to the few sportsmen in the country epecially footballers. However, sports sector in today Tanzania is performing as poorly  as many other sectors. Scholars and media are unsuccessfully playing their best to alert the Government and stakeholders. This is the case to many countries of not only Africa but also the World at large.

Football, being among the leading sport in Tanzania, gives the best representative of whether the TQM can probably help to reduce the problem in the sports arena. Jo Van Hoecke, (1977), report on the project to ensure the success of Belgium football by agreeing that TQM was accepted by many clubs as the best solution towards long-term permanent success. Actually, from (Söderman, 2013) it can be summed that, the future of the football also need the same approach as those used by the other enterprises. Footbal need the Total Quality Management approach to cut away all the barriers for continous improvement just the way it did to manufacturing industry.

President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete said “Breaking Barriers is the message of the FIFA World Cup trophy.  No message could be more relevant to the Tanzanian football scene than this.  That message should be a challenge and inspiration to the new leadership at the ministry, the Tanzania Football Federation to football clubs and all football lovers.  We should all strive with renewed vigour and commitment to break the barriers of the past that have hindered football development in Tanzania.  Endless squabbles and mal-administration of the sport must end.  Endless squabbles are sickening.  Endless squabbles produce sick minds, and sick minds produce poorly-performing players and, with such players our teams end up in early exist at tournaments, both regional and international. Consequently, no trophies come to the country.  Let us therefore decide now to put our act together.  Let the coming of the World Cup Trophy to Tanzania bring with it a spirit of renewal and rededication to do better.  Let the Trophy leave behind a football loving nation with a resolve to make squabbles history, to administer and manage better the sport and invest time and resources in the development of the game and players”. (Ministry for Information, 2006)

  

Relevance of Tanzanian Football to TQM

“Total” “Quality”

First the essence of integrating the whole system must well be understood. And also the definition of quality should be well articulated in the stakeholders of the SOCCER in the country. TQM philosophy requires that everyone is involved in the Customer Satisfaction. Fans are the rulers of the level of quality as well as the base for further improvement, and all those from club level to national level should be aware of the customer focus of the TAIFA STARS. That is the goal of TFF must also relate to the clubs systems. TQM needs the presence of quality focus through visions, missions and philosophies. The National team, Taifa Stars must have a well known philosophy, so that the Coaches and the kind of players needed can as well be predictable. The stakeholders can easily give out their comment on the quality level and measure the consistency when at least they can see the path of where they are going.

Customer Focus

In Tanzania, actually the Clubs are still even not aware of their customers. This means they are even far away to knowing what quality in football is. With increasing Globalization, nothing holds than the excellence of the good or service at both the local and international level. That is the quality as perceived by the Satisfaction of the Customer. In TQM this customer concept goes further and distinguishes the INTERNAL CUSTOMER and EXTERNAL CUSTOMER. Internally, the customer is the next person in the process of production or supplying. A football player from team B to team A, is in this relation. Externally customers are ultimate users or the people paying for the service or product. Fans definitely hold this position. 

National Teams worldwide depends on the performance of the clubs. Because clubs recruits the players selected for the national teams. Taifa Stars (Tanzania National Team) is equally the same. In TQM; the Customers for Taifa Stars would be Tanzanians as well as those who would wish for the Country to win the World Cup Trophy. Likewise Taifa Stars is the customer of the Local Clubs.

Process Focus

TQM insist that many of the variations of the output can permanently be prevented if traced from the Process. The thinking must always be in the Process. TQM considers the process to have both internal and external customers and suppliers. Coaches in a clubs are customers of their player and a supplier of the players and National Team Coach. Because they give expect output and give different inputs too. You want know why the Strikers today miss ten goals out of ten kicks in a National Team, while the former would hardly miss, then you should go to the league and assess the situation. May be whoever is the best scorer with golden shoe, used to get fifteen chances to get a goal.So many to say with regard to this, bottom line is the need to eliminate sources of variation from the procees design rather than to the end product. Such process thinking should not only be with regard to players, but also with regard to the formation and playing tactics or goal scoring at large. 

Continuous Quality Improvement

The equally important element is the need to ensure the quality improvement is continuous. The shortcoming of the Tanzania national team today may well be due to the belief that the 1980s performance was without flaws. Always there is a chance to improve the quality. Many clubs come and go in Tanzania, and the two most standing SIMBA and YANGA, are probably the most inconsistent teams in Tanzania, given the achievements that they have already made in the past. TQM requires that when a player performs better, we must find a way to improve for the best performance,because improvement toward excellence is a never ending process.

Top Management Commitment

The benefit of TQM cannot be realized if the managers are committed to other businesses. They have to be committed to the quality and the team. Managers must be effective leaders, by showing and influencing the devotion of effort to the total performance and excellence. A cry of some Chelsea Players when Jose Morinho leaving the Club for another Contract in Inter Milan probably came from that kind of leadership commitment. In Tanzania, the commitment has shown the difference between the former players and current players. It is argued that today players are influenced by the money while the former players were mostl patriotic. But, in no way can money give a player creativity in four months if he/she has does not put in mind that the excellence is all that we needed. Zamoyoni Mogella could have been who he was without some extra effort, which may well be the case many players of today.

Leadership commitment will trigger the many other elements like Teamwork, Continuous Training, Employees involvement and decision making basing on facts. Actually the football of Tanzania is in the hands of the Leaders, from Club level to national team level. Because they are the one that can call for new rules and constitutions as well as promote the necessary change for the betterment of Tanzanian footbal. We have witnessed many problems, especially during election, from the time of Tanzania Football Associations (TFA) up to date with Tanzania Football Federation (TFF). In clubs, the leaders are mostly blamed people of all, with exception of the clubs like Mtibwa, Azam and other Militia Teams where the ownership is independent of general public. In essence the teams are much consistent than the other groups.

Cultural Change

Of all the above, Cultural Change is not the least. TQM is about change to quality culture mentality. Tanzanians like people anywhere else, they will normally resist the change. If there is anything permanent in the world, then it is changes. From Government officials to fans, the change is necessary toward the quality culture mentality. The president talking about the poor performance of the Club like SIMBA or YANGA can mean a lot to the commitment of the leaders and to the Tanzanians at large. The Fans expressing their feeling is not enough without action on the poorly performing teams. Media giving credit to impress the fans should be taken as a business strategy of killing the team in question. Today, in whatever you read in the news paper about Tanzanian Soccer,especially SIMBA AND YANGA, is so alarming than what is actually happening  in the pitch ground. Footballers are advertised like musicians and they do not bother to think of their fans’ feeling at all.We are not to Old to learn, and this my contribution to the coming leaders in any sports related position in Tanzania, football in particular.

.....................................IT IS JUST THE BEGINNING............................................