WHAT IS TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM)?

QM stands for total quality management. A core definition of total quality management (TQM)
describes a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. In a TQM
effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services, and the
culture in which they work.

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

(TQM) PRIMARY ELEMENTS
Total quality management, or TQM, can be summarized as a management system for a customer-
focused organization that involves all employees in continual improvement. It uses strategy, data,
and effective communications to integrate the quality discipline into the culture and activities of the
organization. Many of these concepts are present in modern quality management systems, the
successor to TQM. Here are the 8 principles of total quality management:

1. Customer-focused

The customer ultimately determines the level of quality. No matter what an organization does to
foster quality improvement - training employees, integrating quality into the design process, or
upgrading computers or software -the customer determines whether the efforts were worthwhile.

2. Total employee involvement

All employees participate in working toward common goals. Total employee commitment can only
be obtained after fear has been driven from the workplace, when empowerment has occurred, and
when management has provided the proper environment. High-performance work systems
integrate continuous improvement efforts with normal business operations. Self-managed work
teams are one form of empowerment.

3. Process-centered

A fundamental part of TQM is a focus on process thinking. A process is a series of steps that take
inputs from suppliers (internal or external) and transforms them into outputs that are delivered to
customers (internal or external). The steps required to carry out the process are defined, and
performance measures are continuously monitored in order to detect unexpected variation.

4. Integrated system

Although an organization may consist of many different functional specialties often organized into
vertically structured departments, it is the horizontal processes interconnecting these functions
that are the focus of TQM.
 o Micro-processes add up to larger processes, and all processes aggregate into the business
processes required for defining and implementing 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.
o An integrated business system may be modeled after the Baldrige National Quality
Program criteria and/or incorporate the ISO 9000 standards. Every organization has a unique
work culture, and it is virtually impossible to achieve excellence in its products and services
unless a good quality culture has been fostered. Thus, an integrated system connects business
improvement elements in an attempt to continually improve and exceed the expectations of
customers, employees, and other stakeholders.
5. Strategic and systematic approach

A critical part of the management of quality is the strategic and systematic approach to achieving
an organization’s vision, mission, and goals. This process, called strategic planning or strategic
management, includes the formulation of a strategic plan that integrates quality as a core
component.

6. Continual improvement

A large aspect of TQM is continual process improvement. Continual improvement drives an

organization to be both analytical and creative in finding ways to become more competitive and
more effective at meeting stakeholder expectations.

7. Fact-based decision making

In order to know how well an organization is performing, data on performance measures are
necessary. TQM requires that an organization continually collect and analyze data in order to
improve decision making accuracy, achieve consensus, and allow prediction based on past
history.

8. Communications

During times of organizational change, as well as part of day-to-day operation, effective

communications plays a large part in maintaining morale and in motivating employees at all levels.
Communications involve strategies, method, and timeliness.

These elements are considered so essential to TQM that many organizations define them, in some
format, as a set of core values and principles on which the organization is to operate. The methods
for implementing this approach come from the teachings of such quality leaders as Philip B.
Crosby, W. Edwards Deming, Armand V. Feigenbaum, Kaoru Ishikawa, and Joseph M. Juran.

Total quality management (TQM) is achieved and becomes part of the overall organizational culture
when the five principles - produce quality work the first time, focus on the customer, have a strategic
approach to improvement, improve continuously and encourage mutual respect and teamwork - are
practiced by all employees.

What is Total Quality Management?

Why is online shopping a better experience on some sites than on others? Let's look at total quality
management (TQM) for the reasons.
Total quality management is an organization-wide philosophy with its core values centered on
continually improving the quality of its product and services, and the quality of its processes, to meet
and exceed customer expectations.
This means that everyone in the organization - from top management to the employees - plays a role
in providing quality products and services to customers. Even suppliers and the customers
themselves are part of the TQM.

Five Principles of TQM

In order to exceed customer expectations, an organization must embrace five principles:

 Produce quality work the first time

 Focus on the customer
 Have a strategic approach to improvement
 Improve continuously
 Encourage mutual respect and teamwork

Let's see how Fun Time Travel, an online travel booking website, applies the five principles.

Information technology technicians monitor the website for

client activity.

Producing quality work (the first time) means quality is built into the processes for producing
products or providing services, and continual improvement measures are taken to ensure the
processes work every time. Employees are empowered to make decisions to improve a process and
are provided with continual training to develop their skills.
The purchasing department at Fun Time Travel evaluates data on client purchases to determine
which packages are most popular with clients. This helps them to determine what stays and what
goes. The information technology technicians monitor the website continually to assess whether
clients are just browsing or actually making purchases. The IT guys also evaluate how long a
booking takes to determine whether changes need to be made to the check-out process.
Focusing on the customer involves designing products or services that meet or exceed the
customer's expectations. This involves the product itself, its functionality, attributes, convenience and
even the means by which the information about a product is received by a client.
The marketing department is responsible to get the cyber-word out to potential clients. Marketers
use a wide variety of media sources, like social networking, email and even texting, to get the word
out about Fun Time's website. If they notice traffic is not moving toward the website or that clients
are not staying online long enough, they will make strong suggestions to the IT department and the
research and development department to make changes immediately.

Marketers use a wide variety of media sources, like social

networking, e-mail and texting.

By having a strategic approach to improvement, processes are developed and tested to ensure
the product or service's quality. This also involves making sure suppliers offer quality supplies
needed to produce products.
The purchasing department monitors client reviews to determine whether the ratings on the website
are similar to those of actual past customers. This makes it possible for purchasing to add more
travel packages to the company's inventory.
Improving continuously means always analyzing the way work is being performed to determine if
more effective or efficient ways are possible, making improvements and striving for excellence all the
time.
The human resources department is interested in making sure employees are qualified to perform
their jobs. By having qualified and trained employees on the team, the website will run effectively.
Calls to the travel desk will be handled efficiently. Any interruption to the booking process will be
quickly fixed, and improvements will be made.
Encouraging mutual respect and teamwork is important because it fosters a single-organizational
culture of excellence by knowing that every employee from top to bottom of the hierarchy holds the
same core principles at heart.
The entire team at Fun Time Travel work together to make viewing, planning and booking a vacation
on their website a pleasurable and easy experience. This requires an inter-departmental approach to
TQM.