Total quality management (TQM)

Total quality management (TQM) refers to a management strategy that focuses on the long view—sustainable success by way of efficient productivity and high-quality customer service. It is based on the constant improvement of production and service and on comprehensive and collaborative participation at all levels of the organizational culture. Crucial to the TQM approach is an ongoing incorporation of feedback. Among the benefits of TQM is its flexibility, as it can be successfully adopted by many types of organizations. Although the origin of the term is unclear, the most common version holds it was created by the Naval Air Systems Command to describe the management approach it developed for quality improvement. However, it has come to acquire a variety of meanings. Its requirements may be identified differently by some organizations and can also be found incorporated into established standards, such as the International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 9000 series.

Brief History

The total quality management approach started in Japan and has been adopted by a wide variety of organizations worldwide, from the medical and hospitality industries to sports, religious, education, and many other organizations.

Postwar Japan’s economy had been destroyed by World War II. Statistician W. Edwards Deming helped the United States military—at the time, occupying Japan as part of the Allied Forces—to plan the Japanese census in the late 1940s. Subsequently, the Japanese invited Deming to teach his quality control techniques to leading business managers. The Japanese adopted Deming’s quality improvement strategies to increase production and service, and become much more competitive. Deming trained hundreds of academics, managers, and scientists in concepts of quality and control. Nominated as “the high prophet of quality,” his teachings were a key element in the unparalleled rise of the postwar Japanese industry. The combination of better quality with lower costs raised global demand for Japanese products. TQM became known worldwide as a crucial factor in some of the most innovative firms of the latter twentieth century, and Deming’s TQM teachings continued to influence organizations in the twenty-first century.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, manufacturing firms in the United States and in other developed countries faced strong competition from inexpensive, high-quality Japanese products. Many began to study quality control approaches developed previously and implemented successfully by Japanese firms. In the mid-1980s, to improve its effectiveness, the US Navy arranged for some of its researchers to study ways TQM strategies could be applied to naval operations. In 1985, experts recommended that the navy implement Deming’s techniques, and branded them as total quality management. Other organizational systems, such as Lean Manufacturing and ISO 9000, developed in the 1990s, share many of the same philosophies, strategies, and techniques that TQM does. TQM’s principles have continued to be integrated into organizations that focus on excellence.

Overview

The application of the TQM approach is based on the premise that inefficient management is damaging to an entire organization. The improvement of management in any company is important, because management has direct bearing on efficient operations and the quality of products and services.

TQM, with its ethos of excellence from beginning to end, is meant to be incorporated into the organizational culture of a firm, with the purpose of providing customers with products or services that satisfy their needs. Quality must be incorporated in all aspects of the firm’s operations, and wastefulness eradicated. To achieve this, TQM requires continuous feedback from members in all areas of the organization.

Organizations implement TQM practices differently. There is no fixed guideline; there is, however, a set of strategies that organizations can implement. TQM relies on a foundation of trust. It encourages an environment of openness and fairness, fostering the involvement of everyone. Strategically, this works in conjunction with ethics, integrity, and trust. Organizational ethics is concerned with what is right and wrong behavior at the individual and group level in a firm. Integrity includes values, honesty, and fairness. The TQM approach will not work in an environment of unfairness, duplicity, and dishonesty. Trust, a consequence of integrity and ethical behavior, is a necessary element in the TQM approach. Trust encourages full participation by all members. It fosters company-wide empowerment and ownership. Trust also encourages the necessary commitment needed for continuous feedback and improvement. Trust, then, builds the collaborative environment essential for to the TQM approach. TQM applies its values to training, teamwork, leadership, recognition, and communication.

TQM originally recommended three types of teams: quality improvement or excellence teams; natural work teams, which consist of small groups whose members share tasks and responsibilities; and temporary problem-solving teams. Leadership is expected at all levels of the organization. TQM requires managers to provide a guiding vision, provide strategic direction, ensure that everybody understands procedures and expectations, and instill guiding values.

TQM processes are divided into four categories (the PDCA cycle): plan, do, check, and act. The planning category serves to identify a problem and its cause. In the doing category, members develop a solution and measure its effectiveness. In the checking category, results are confirmed. Finally, in the acting category, results are documented, changes implemented, and information about changes disseminated.

The TQM paradigm holds the basic idea that the organizational system performance results from the interaction of a whole set of integrated tasks fulfilled by employees in diverse spheres. Its goal is widespread participation and commitment throughout the organization.

Bibliography

Akao, Yoji, and Hoshin Kanri: Policy Deployment for Successful TQM. Productivity, 2004.

Bradford, Gregory. TQM 50 Success Secrets. 50 Most Asked Questions on TQM. What You Need to Know. Emereo, 2014.

Deming, W. Edwards. The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality. McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Goetsch, David L., and Stanley Davis. Quality Management for Organizational Excellence: Introduction to Total Quality. Prentice Hall, 2012.

King, Jimmy. "What Is Total Quality Management?" Factorial, 4 Apr. 2024, factorialhr.co.uk/blog/total-quality-management/. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.

Rocha-Luna, Luis, et al. Building Quality Management Systems: Selecting the Right Methods and Tools. Productivity, 2013.

Scherkenbach, William. Deming’s Road to Continual Improvement. SPC, 1991.

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"What Is Total Quality Management (TQM)?" ASQ, asq.org/quality-resources/total-quality-management. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.