Date management (TQM) philosophy

Date management (TQM) philosophy

Date management (TQM)  is philosophy and set of guiding principles in applied in management of quality with an organization. It consists of organization-wide efforts to install and make permanent a climate in which an organization continuously improves its ability to deliver high-quality products and services to customers. While there is no widely agreed-upon approach, TQM efforts typically draw heavily on the previously developed tools and techniques of quality control.

Total quality management is a management system for a customer focused organization that involves all employee in continual improvement of all aspects of the organization. TQM uses strategy, data, and effective communication to integrate the quality principles into the culture and activities of the organization.

Total quality management and continuous improvement that comes with it is among the of the management approaches of improving the effectiveness of any  organization (Oakland, 2003). Business Process Reengineering is aimed at improving an organization as a whole. These approaches have  similarities among one another in certain areas but the outcome and core of its distinctive styles differ completely. However they both share the common goal of turning a troubled organization into a success.. The flow of this essay will begin by delving more thoroughly on the understanding of TQM together with a brief history of its existence and also ‘Continuous Improvement’ as part of the former, and not overlooking BPR as well, its history, followed by a critical analysis and comparison between the two approaches and lastly, a conclusion to sum it all up.

As Oakland explained in his book, total quality management is considered an approach to further improve an organization in terms of effectiveness and flexibility by reorganizing and involving the whole organization at any and every level to cooperate with one another and move as a collective unit for it to be truly effective.TQM first came to light when a group of authors such as Deming (1982, 1986) highlighted the application of statistical techniques for quality control and also suggested fourteen principles which he believed will further improve quality in organizations. Juran (1986) stressed the importance of technical and managerial aspects while identifying three basic functions of quality management process as opposed to Deming’s fourteen. Ishikawa (1985) was one of the earliest and also played a role which contributed to TQM. From then on, TQM has been undergoing development based on these initial contributions. Due to this, the critical factors of TQMTQM may be defined as a continuous quest for excellence by creating the right skills and attitudes in people to make prevention of defects possible and satisfy customers/users totally at all times. TQM is an organization-wide activity that has to reach every individual within an organization. Oakland (1989), has defined TQM as follows: “Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach to improving the effectiveness and flexibility of business as a whole”. It is essentially a way of organizing and involving the whole organization; every department, every activity, every single person at every level. TQM has been based on the quest for progress and continual improvement in the areas of cost, reliability, quality, innovative efficiency and business effectiveness. Pfau, L.D. (1989) states that TQM is an approach for continuously improving the quality of goods and services delivered through the participation of all levels and functions of the organization. Tobin views TQM as the totally integrated effort for gaining competitive advantage by continuously improving every facet of organizational culture. Deming provides an operational definition of TQM which gives a motivational meaning to the concept. Sink states that TQM can be successful only if the operational definition is translated into strategies by the leadership of the organization and which are crystallized into actions and communicated to all the people with conviction and clarity. However, TQM may also be viewed functionally as an integration of two basic functions, i.e. total quality control and quality management. Total quality control is a 38 long-term success strategy for organizations. Customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, product quality assurance in all its stages, and continuous improvement and innovation, are the main ingredients of total quality control; whereas quality management is a way of planning, organizing and directing that will facilitate and integrate the capabilities of all employees for continuous improvement of anything and everything in an organization to attain excellence. Thus, TQM in an organization brings all the people together to ensure and improve product-process quality, the work environment and working culture. Sohal et al.(2000), have explained that the continuous improvement in quality has to come from an integrated approach of controlling quality via action plans in different operations of the business cycle. They have identified five elements such as customer focus, management commitment, total participation, statistical quality control and systematic problem solving. Zaire has mentioned that TQM can be formulated in terms of the three important aspects of continuous improvement, value-added management and employee involvement. Price and Gaskill (1990) have identified three dimensions of TQM. They are: a) The product and service dimension: The degree to which the customer is satisfied with the prod

Be Customer focused: Whatever you do for quality improvement, remember that ONLY customers determine the level of quality. Whatever you do to foster quality  improvement, training employees, integrating quality into processes management, ONLY customers determine whether your efforts were worthwhile.
 2-Insure Total Employee Involvement: You must remove fear from work place, then empower employee… you provide the proper environment. Process Centered: Fundamental part of TQM is to focus on process thinking.
4- Integrated system:  All employee must know the business mission and vision. An integrated business system may be modeled by MBNQA or  ISO 9000
5- Strategic and systematic approach: Strategic plan must integrate quality as core component.
6-  Continual Improvement: Using analytical, quality tools, and creative thinking to become more efficient and effective.
7- Fact Based Decision Making: Decision making must be ONLY on data, not personal or situational thinking.
8-  Communication: Communication strategy, method and timeliness must be well defined.