Total Quality Management (TQM) consists of organization-wide efforts to install and make permanent a climate in which an organization continually improves its ability to deliver high-quality products and services to customers. While there is no widely agreed approach, TQM's efforts are typically based on previously developed quality control tools and techniques. TQM enjoyed widespread attention in the late 1980s and early 1990s before being eclipsed by ISO 9000, Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma.
History
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the developed countries of North America and Western Europe suffered economically from the strong competition of Japan's ability to produce high-quality goods at a competitive cost. For the first time since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the United Kingdom became a net importer of finished goods. The United States undertook its own search for soul, expressed very clearly in the television broadcast of Si Japan can ... Why can not we? Companies began to re-examine the quality control techniques invented over the past 50 years and how these techniques had been so successfully used by the Japanese. It was in the midst of this economic turmoil that TQM took root.
The exact origin of the term "total quality management" is uncertain. It is almost certainly inspired by Armand V. Feigenbaum multi-edition book Total Quality Control (OCLC 299383303) and Kaoru Ishikawa What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way (OCLC 11467749). It may have been coined for the first time in the UK by the Department of Trade and Industry during its 1983 "National Quality Campaign". Or it may have been coined for the first time in the United States by the Naval Air Systems Command to describe its efforts to improve quality in 1985.
Categories
Total quality management can be divided into four categories:
Plan
Do
Review
Acting
Principles
Here are the 8 principles of total quality management:
1. Customer oriented
The customer ultimately determines the quality level. Regardless of what an organization does to promote quality improvement: employee training, integration of quality in the design process, upgrading of computers or software or the purchase of new measurement tools, the customer determines If the efforts have been worth it.
2. Total employee participation
All employees participate in the work toward common goals. The full commitment of employees can only be obtained after the fear has been expelled from the workplace, when empowerment has occurred and management has provided the appropriate environment. High-performance work systems integrate continuous improvement efforts with normal business operations. Self-managed work teams are a form of empowerment.
3. Process-centric
A key part of TQM is a focus on the thought process. A process is a series of steps that take inputs from suppliers (internal or external) and transforms them into products that are delivered to customers (again, internal or external). The steps required to carry out the process are defined and the performance measures are continuously monitored for unexpected variations.
4. Integrated system
Although an organization may consist of many different functional specialties often organized in vertically structured departments, they are the horizontal processes that interconnect these functions that are the focus of TQM.
• Micro-processes are added to larger processes, and all processes are added to the business processes required to define and implement the strategy. Everyone must understand the vision, mission and guiding principles, as well as the quality policies, objectives and critical processes of the organization. Business performance must be monitored and communicated continuously.
• An integrated business system can be modeled according to Baldrige National Quality Program criteria and / or incorporate ISO 9000 standards. Each organization has a unique work culture, and it is practically impossible to achieve excellence in its products and services. Unless a culture of good quality has been fostered. Therefore, an integrated system connects elements of business improvement in an attempt to continuously improve and exceed the expectations of customers, employees and other stakeholders.
5. Strategic and systematic approach
A critical part of quality management is the strategic and systematic approach to achieving the vision, mission, and goals of an organization. This process, called strategic planning or strategic management, includes the formulation of a strategic plan that integrates quality as a central component.
6. Continuous Improvement
A major thrust of TQM is the continuous improvement of the process. Continuous improvement drives an organization to be both analytical and creative in finding ways to be more competitive and more effective in meeting the expectations of stakeholders.
7. Facts-Based Decision Making
In order to know how well an organization is performing, data on performance measures are needed. TQM requires an organization to continue collecting and analyzing data to improve decision making, consensus building and prediction based on past history.
8. Communications
During times of organizational change, as well as part of the day-to-day operation, effective communications play an important role in maintaining morale and motivating employees at all levels. Communications involve strategies, method and punctuality.
