By CHINONSO NDUKWE

REPORT CONTENT SUMMARY OF REPORT 1. ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES OF TQM 2. TQM MODEL 2.1. 2.2. 2.3.
2.4.

HOW TQM WORKS: Jablonski (1992) and TQM techniques IMPLEMENTING METHOD OF TQM TQM TOOLS ADVANTAGES OF TQM WHY TQM CAN FAIL? CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

2.5.
2.6.

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

In 10 short years, TQM has become as pervasive a part of business thinking as quarterly financial results Benson (1993:48)

SUMMARY OF REPORT TQM is an acclaimed business philosophy for global and local competitiveness. This report espouses the origin and core principles of Total Quality Management (TQM). Quality is a fundamental force for business growth and profitability. British Airways through the strategic application of TQM has improved their customer care, operational management, human resource management and administrative leadership. TQM admonishes the need to get it right the first time. Tools organisations use to apply TQM, the advantages and disadvantages of TQM, the significance of people in TQM implementation and the challenges of TQM are discussed in this essay. TQM could fail if there is no careful planning. Nevertheless, TQM is a potential foundation for competitive advantage.

1. ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES OF TQM There are different notions about the origins of TQM. Dr Edward W. Deming is one of the pioneers of TQM. His pioneering work in Japan expanded the use of the philosophy. As early as the late 1920s the philosophy has started to emerge among organizations that wished to improve productivity, motivation and efficiency. Deming being an employee at Western Electric Company in Chicago, realised that worker motivation systems are unproductive and flawed (Bank, 2002). However, Pycraft (2000) argue that Armand Feigenbaum whose doctoral work was on total quality control is the founder of TQM. Feigenbaum provided a quality control approach to TQM. He also places the emphasis on management involvement in quality control and measurement. All staff must be involved in the quality promotion. Walter A. Shewhart and Edward Deming formed a formidable collaboration to create statistical-quality-control techniques during the 2nd World War. Gradually, their techniques became more acceptable amongst government and employees across Plant companies (Deming, 1982). In 1947, Deming was sent to Japan by the US. State Department to revitalize the war destroyed Japanese economy. Deming found in Japan an opportunity to put to work his quality ideas. He introduced statistical quality control into Japans problematic manufacturing sector, and rapidly transformed the spheres of quality management in the country. The fundamentals of the model he offered were dedication to quality, productivity and competency; these allowed Japan to become a dominant force in the global economy by the 1980s. The historical difference between TQM and the traditional management methods is the emphasis on quality, top management involvement in quality strategies rather than the quantity-based production patterns of the former American industries (McManus, 1999). As

Japanese companies began to grow in market share, productivity and profitability, American organizations began to face slower market growths. However, in response to this, the Deming quality management model became the paradigm for many American corporations eager to advance. This business initiative made Deming very popular and well sought after in management and business studies. His name and other gurus like Crosby, Juran and Ishikawa became the staple of American business in the late 1980s. According to Youngless (2000) by the 1990s the US manufacturing and servicing companies have began to improve in quality and productivity owing to the adoption of TQM. Motorola for example survived in the 1990s, and in 1990 precisely Cadillac Motor Car Company, IBM Rochester, Federal Express Corporation and Wallace Co., Inc. won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality award courtesy of their adoption of TQM. Generally, U.S. manufacturing sector had achieved marked gains in quality and productivity. In Pycraft (2000) Armand Feigenbaums definition of TQM is: an effective system for integrating the quality development , quality maintenance and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organization so as to enable production and service as the most economic levels which allow for full customer satisfaction (P.732). There are several quality gurus who have contributed seriously to the development of TQM. Philip B. Crosby studied the cost of quality, G. Taguchi focused on the optimization of product and service design in engineering and J. M Juran was occupied with the production of user-based quality products. Like Deming, Juran concerned himself with the involvement of employees in quality improvement programs and processes (Pycraft, 2000). TQM involves the continuous management and adoption of quality measures to increase the efficiency of the organisation.The fundamental principles of TQM are: i. The organisation must ensure 100% commitment to quality: every employee must be responsible for quality. ii. TQM argues that the business and services must be customer driven: surveys must be conducted often and constant responses must be collected from the public to make sure they are satisfied with the level of quality product/service they receive. Quality as a goal must be customer-based. iii. There should be a detailed process of achieving the quality goals.

iv. The improvement teams must be in place: there must be functional teams that can study and review activities again and again to ensure there is improvement. The problems are not people but processes. v. TQM policies function on a long term business philosophy/plan: TQM is longterm process. It may take up to 5 years to achieve the desired outcomes. vi. Intensive management and monitoring strategies: Quality must be measured and managed. vii. Persistent improvement in the products and services offered. viii. There should be recurrent auditing exercise: this principle ensures the employees are following the documented process in detail. ix. Employees must be motivated and empowered. x. Top management must be involved in the measuring and controlling of the exercise: the business processes must be controlled to adopt quality specifications. In fact every employee has a customer to delight and impress.
(http://www.quality-assurance-solutions.com/TQM)

2.1. TQM MODEL: BRITISH AIRWAYS

Figure 1: TQM MODEL

Total quality management in BA was characterised by customer focus, total participation, process improvement, process management and planning process. These five total quality frameworks try to revitalise business productivity and competitiveness. Heller (1992) citing the success of TQM in BA reports that The changes have made BA much fitter for any possible new worlds. The process has been one of replacing negatives with positives, of doing the natural thing well, rather than the unnatural badly. Cumming cites Gatwick airport as an example. The men servicing 757s freely decided that they could introduce a fourth line to handle a growing workload, using existing staff. A fifth line is now planned under the same conditions - meaning a total improvement in productivity of 4045%. The TQM process in BA was a very long term procedure. They first of all restructured their internal business environment. They started by applying the Leaner to Fitter program on their workforce (Bank, 2002). Collin Marshall pioneered their People First initiative. They had the goal of having about 29,000 employees that were to be organised for the quality program. They began by looking at their employees and their people more closely, just to ascertain what they really lack in their workforce. The next step was to form a customer first program. In this quality philosophy, employees were treated as internal customers first before the external customers. Ineffective attitude of employees were dictated. This then led to the formation of the motto: We fly to serve and the gold in the hole, engineering excellence, money matters (Bank, 2002).

The next stage is the breaking level. The employees and managers that were found ineffective were dismissed. Basically they demanned their workforce from 59,000 to 29,000. This includes managers that opposed the total quality initiative. In fact, the workforce was entirely new. BA is the fourth largest airliner globally. With over 26 million passengers, British Airways fiercely competes with Lufthansa and American Airways. It is the biggest airliner in the United Kingdom, and was founded on the 31st of March 1974 after the merger of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA). The organisation started experimenting on better ways of ensuring challenges are managed. Motivation for employees and education for underachieving staff were put in place. The

involvement of the senior and middle management in the exercise improved the speed of the entire exercise. They started an offsite meeting, recording responses from down level management. They encouraged participation of all employees in suggesting ways of implementing quality processes. The entire Focus was to lead the tourism and service business. Although, the quality process was bureaucratic and fiercely enforced across the organisation. However, the quality measures were service oriented and driven by market expansion.

To sustain employee efficiency BA ensured that interested employees had the opportunity to have an MBA. They built permanent training centres to enable them develop and educate their employees frequently. They flattened their organisational hierarchy and created emotional support for their people. Additionally, they introduced a scheme for the sharing of profit bonuses. To get to promote their new total quality management brand, BA introduced the World Traveler. They advertised it to employees allover the world first, and then across the new media for the customers. This initiative sold rapidly. In Total Quality Management programs, performance appraisal systems are very crucial. British Airways introduced an appraisal system and created a compensation system that is performance-based. This system paid off. They also developed a response (Feedback) system on management decision and practices that is data driven. This is to checkmate any excesses or flaws in the quality measures put in place regarding service pattern, customer response, calls, and activities generally. From the analysis it is crucial to point out that BA based their TQM on employees, process and customers. The outcome was very successful. They increased profit by 13%, and subsequently increased 12% each year. They started flying 160 destinations including 90 countries. BA bought over 235 aircrafts, increased their fleet strength more than competitors like American Airways, and advanced to 41% share level in the North Atlantic market (Bank, 2002). 2.2. HOW TQM WORKS Jablonski (1992) stated three major characteristics essential for TQM to work which are:

i. Participative management ii. Continuous process improvement iii. The utilization of teams. i. For TQM to be successful, it must involve all the employees of the organisation. Participative management style uses a down-top management intimacy that allows for the involvement of managers and employees-alike. This means that managers make decisions with the in-put of lower employees in the organisation. An advantage of this TQM strategy is that the senior management get to know about the operations much better, and also motivates employees more. ii. Continuous improvement of process ensures that the organisation recognises advancements toward the goal of total quality. Small improvements are recognised. A very significant corollary of continuous improvement is that employees and managers develop an awareness of the value of TQM over a certain period of time. iii. Team work according to Jablonski (1992) is the third significant ingredient for the success of TQM. This feature involves the development of a cross-functional team-framework within the organisation. A team that are created under multidisciplinary approach helps workers share knowledge identify problems and opportunities and easily aligns employee-purpose. Jablonski (1992) critically stated the following characteristics of any successful TQM program: focus on customers, focus on process, empowerment of employees through compensations; decision making that is fact-based, quick receptiveness to responses regarding business processes, and production that involves quality rather than inspection. Hill (2005:429) defined TQM as a company-wide approach to quality management with improvements being undertaken on a continuous basis by everyone. It decreases cost, increases service and product quality. In a broader view Hill (2005) provided the following features of a successful TQM program : a commitment policy supported by top leadership, planning and executing the programme, using tools and approaches, education and training, culture changes , measurement and feedback, involvement of every staff and the allowance of feedback. 2.3. IMPLEMENTING TQM:

Burke (2003) argues that TQM is targeted at customer satisfaction through a continuous process of service improvement. In the same view Jablonski (1992) provided a five-plan implementation process of TQM that is based on achieving customer satisfaction.
i.

Preparation- this stage is the decision level. This is when the organisation trains their staff and prepares them for the goals on quality. They build and map-out resources for the quality strategies of products, processes and services.

ii.

Planning- at this point the organisation details the plan for the implementation. The infrastructure for the quality management will be planned and secured at this point. Assessment- this is a stage that stresses a methodical self-assessment of employees and customers of the organisation. At this stage, the vision of the organisation is reviewed and integrated with total quality.

iii.

iv.

Implementation- this stage is when the organisation begins to get returns on TQM investment. The support personnel are trained and chosen during this phase. They are taught about product quality, customer satisfaction, service quality and the general purpose of TQM in the organisation.

v.

Diversification- this is when the managers expand the TQM experiences to the external business environment; distributors, suppliers and other clients. This includes training programmes, recognition and reward, partnerships and support for the groups that are embraced by the organisations TQM programmes.

2.4. TQM TOOLS The tools for TQM are discussed below: Figure 2: TQM TOOLS TQM Techniques, tools and systems Statistical Process Control ISO 9000 series Pareto Analysis Matrix Diagram Histograms Tree Decision Diagram Critical Path Analysis Fishbone or Ishakawa Diagram

Source: Psychogios and Priporas (2007) i. According to Psychogios and Priporas (2007) Statistical Process Control (SPC) is the first tool for TQM. It is a numerical technique that enables managers to control the production or delivery and to reduce variation (Goetsch & Davis, 1994). ii. ISO 9000 Series is a significant TQM tool. The International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000 serves as a very essential quality improvement system (Psychogios and Priporas, 2007). Perhaps, it is the most popular quality improvement system. It ensures an organisation has a specific quality improvement policy. This are set of standards that makes a product or service more competitive and certified in the competition. iii. According to Dale (2003) the Pareto analysis is an extremely useful tool for considering a large volume of data in a manageable form (p. 296). Through Pareto analysis management can eliminate problems that happen in the operation procedure. iv. Benchmarking evaluates techniques used for internal business processes. Bounds et al argue that, "in this analysis, managers determine the firm's critical processes and outputs, baseline those processes, then compare the performance of each process against a standard outside the industry". There are many reasons for benchmarking. Benchmarking is a persistent process of comparing an organisations processes, strategy, and products with those of the world leaders and best-in-class organizations. A practical example of Benchmarking other than British Airways is Xerox. In 1959 the company created the photocopier. However, their 20 years monopoly of the product shrunk in 1981 as IBM and Kodak innovated high-end machines and Canon and Richo dominated the low-end segment of the market. They lost 35% of the market due this development. In other to bounce back they employed a total quality management that utilised a benchmarking tool. Xeroxs pattern of benchmarking compared the processes applied by competitors. They changed their processes, reduced employees and improved the quality of their machines. This boosted their business immensely. 2.5. ADVANTAGES OF TQM 1. It is a business philosophy that can improve quality from the bottom to the top management.

10

2. It has tools that can advance quality operating system. 3. It enhances communication. 4. TQM employees are very proactive and prevention oriented. 5. It employs processes that remove problems and reduce waste. 6. The employees are motivated. 7. Training and education are offered to employees and clients. 8. TQM utilises a quality based management system that aligns with ISO 9001:2000 certification

2.6. DEMINGS 7 REASONS WHY TQM FAIL Deming (2000) argue that organisations can fail in TQM because of the following: i. The inability of the top management to provide adequate human and financial resources for quality improvement. ii. The absence of management stability due to job hopping. iii. Too much health care cost. iv. Too much legal costs. V. The use of easily available data, not minding what is sufficient for the improvement of the process. 2.7. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION There are several ways British Airways could improve their quality services. From TQM perspective BA should ensure that : i. They build robust commitment to quality services. ii. Improve their focus on client/customer expectation. iii. Discover ways of measuring and creating quality. iv. There should be set goals regarding their quality framework.
11

v. They employ personnel who are involved in quality management. vi. Find out problems of quality and trace them to the roots. vii. Design simple service procedures with customers in mind. viii. Have a closer rapour with suppliers and agencies to ensure the offer services and products.

TQM is a very popular quality management method in the service and tourism industry. Several organisations like BA and Xerox have achieved astonishing competitive advantage by applying the principles of TQM. The major features of the model are driving out fear from employees, removing barriers between employees, eliminating slogans; improve product and services and the adoption of new philosophy. Every employee is involved in the training and quality exercise. Deming is among the pioneers of TQM. The model follows a long term process. However, caress management of the organisation may lead to corporate failure.

12

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Bank, J. (2002) The Essence of TQM. London: Prentice-Hall International. Burke, R. (2003) Project Management: Planning and Control Techniques, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Dale, B. G. (2003) Managing Quality. London: Wiley-Blackwell. Deming, E. (1986). Out of the crisis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Deming, W. E. (1982) Out of the Crisis. Cambridge: MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study. Goetsch, D., & Davis, S. (1994). Introduction to total quality: Quality, productivity, Competitiveness (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. Ishikawa, K. (1985). What is TQC. The Japanese way. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Jablonski, J. (1992) Implementing TQM. 2nd ed. Technical Management Consortium, Inc.. Hill, T. (2005) Operations Management 2nd edition. New York: Pelgrave Macmillan. McManus, K. (1999) "Is Quality Dead?" IIE Solutions. July 1999. Psychogios, A. G., & Priporas, C. V. (2007). Understanding total quality management in context: Qualitative research on managers awareness of TQM aspects in the Greek Service industry. The Qualitative Report, 12(1), 40-66. Retrieved [2nd July 2011], from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR12-1/psychogios.pdf. Pycraft, M. (2000) Operations Management. Pretoria: Pearson South Africa.

13

Youngless, J. (2000) "Total Quality Misconception." Quality in Manufacturing. January 2000.

14