Total Quality Management

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT TQM
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Introduction
There are many approaches in the business domain in order to achieve and exceed the quality
expectations of the clients.
For this, most companies integrate all quality-related processes and functions together and control
it from a central point.
As the name suggests, Total Quality Management takes everything related to quality into
consideration, including the company processes, process outcomes usuallyproductsorservices and
employees.
The Origin
The origin of the TQM goes back to the time of the First World War. During the World War I, there
have been a number of quality assurance initiatives taken place due to the large-scale
manufacturing required for war efforts.
The military fronts could not afford poor quality products and suffered heavy losses due to the
poor quality. Therefore, different stakeholders of the war initiated efforts to enhance the
manufacturing quality.
First of all, quality inspectors were introduced to the assembly lines in order to inspect the quality.
Products below certain quality standard were sent back for fixing.
Even after World War I ended, the practice of using quality inspectors continued in manufacturing
plants. By this time, quality inspectors had more time in their hands to perform their job.
Therefore, they came up with different ideas of assuring the quality. These efforts led to the origin
of Statistical Quality Control SQC. Sampling was used in this method for quality control.
As a result, quality assurance and quality control cost reduced, as inspection of every production
item was need in this approach.
During the post World War II era, Japanese manufacturers produced poor quality products. As a
result of this, Japanese government invited Dr. Deming to train Japanese engineers in quality
assurance processes.
By 1950, quality control and quality assurance were core components of Japanese manufacturing
processes and employees of all levels within the company adopted these quality processes.
By 1970s, the idea of total quality started surfacing. In this approach, all the employees
fromCEOtothelowestlevel were supposed to take responsibility of implementing quality processes for
their respective work areas.
In addition, it was their responsibility to quality control, their own work.
Basic Principles of TQM

In TQM, the processes and initiatives that produce products or services are thoroughly managed.
By this way of managing, process variations are minimized, so the end product or the service will
have a predictable quality level.
Following are the key principles used in TQM:
Top management - The upper management is the driving force behind TQM. The upper
management bears the responsibility of creating an environment to rollout TQM concepts
and practices.
Training needs - When a TQM rollout is due, all the employees of the company need to go
through a proper cycle of training. Once the TQM implementation starts, the employees
should go through regular trainings and certification process.
Customer orientation - The quality improvements should ultimately target improving the
customer satisfaction. For this, the company can conduct surveys and feedback forums for
gathering customer satisfaction and feedback information.
Involvement of employees - Pro-activeness of employees is the main contribution from

the staff. The TQM environment should make sure that the employees who are proactive are
rewarded appropriately.
Techniques and tools - Use of techniques and tools suitable for the company is one of the
main factors of TQM.
Corporate culture - The corporate culture should be such that it facilitates the employees
with the tools and techniques where the employees can work towards achieving higher
quality.
Continues improvements - TQM implementation is not a one time exercise. As long as the
company practices TQM, the TQM process should be improved continuously.
The Cost
Some companies are under the impression that the cost of TQM is higher than the benefits it
offers. This might be true for the companies in small scale, trying to do everything that comes
under TQM.
According to a number of industrial researches, the total cost of poor quality for a company always
exceeds the cost of implementing TQM.
In addition, there is a hidden cost for the companies with poor quality products such as handling
customer complaints, re-shipping, and the overall brand name damage.
Conclusion
Total Quality Management is practiced by many business organizations around the world. It is a
proven method for implementing a quality conscious culture across all the vertical and horizontal
layers of the company.
Although there are many benefits, one should take the cost into the account when implementing
TQM.
For small-scale companies, the cost could be higher than the short and mid term benefits.
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TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT TQM

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/total_quality_management.htm Copyright © tutorialspoint.com

In addition, it was their responsibility to quality control, their own work.

Basic Principles of TQM

Following are the key principles used in TQM:

Involvement of employees - Pro-activeness of employees is the main contribution from

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