Total quality management

Introduction Competition is getting harder and becoming global. Companies now have to be more responsive, offer a better product and keep improving. Total quality management (TQM) increases customer satisfaction by boosting quality. It does this by motivating the workforce and improving the way the company operates. In an increasingly competitive market, firms with a continuous improvement culture and external focus are more likely to survive and prosper. TQM is considered an important catalyst in this context. What is TQM? TQM is an approach to improving the effectiveness and flexibilities of business as a whole. It is essentially a way of organizing and involving the whole organization, every department, every activity and every single person at every level. TQM ensures that the management adopts a strategic overview of the quality and focuses on prevention rather than inspection. Objectives of TQM Meeting the customer's requirements is the primary objective and the key to organizational survival and growth. The second objective of TQM is continuous improvement of quality. The management should stimulate the employees in becoming increasingly competent and creative. Third, TQM aims at developing the relationship of openness and trust among the employees at all levels in the organization.

Significance of TQM The importance of TQM lies in the fact that it encourages innovation, makes the organization adaptable to change, motivates people for better quality, and integrates the business arising out of a common purpose and all these provide the organization with a valuable and distinctive competitive edge. Elements of TQM The various elements of TQM are o Be customer focused It requires the company to check customers' attitudes regularly and includes the idea of internal customers as well as external ones. o Do it right the first time

This means avoiding rework, i.e., cutting the amount of defective work. o Constantly improve Continuous improvement allows the company gradually to get better. o Quality is an attitude Every one has to be committed to quality. That means changing the attitude of the entire workforce, and altering the way the company operates. o Telling staff what is going on This involves improved communication. Typically, it includes team briefing. o Educate and train people An unskilled workforce makes mistakes. Giving more skills to workers means they can do a wider range of jobs, and do them better. It also means educating staff in the principles of TQM, which is a whole new style of working. o Measure the work. Measurement allows the company to make decisions based on facts, not opinion. It helps to maintain standards and keep processes within the agreed tolerances. o Top management must be involved If senior management is not involved, the programme will fail. o Make it a good place to work Many companies are full of fear. Staffs are afraid of the sack, their boss and making mistakes. There is no point in running a TQM programme unless the company drives out fear. o Introduce team work Team work boosts employees' morale. It reduces conflict and solves problem by hitting them with a wider range of skills. It pushes authority and responsibility downwards and provides better, more balanced solutions. o Organise by process, not by function This element of TQM seeks to reduce the barriers that exist between different departments, and concentrates on getting the product to the customer.

Reasons for failure TQM fails because: o Top management sees no reason for change. o Top management is not concerned for its staff. o Top management is not committed to the TQM programme. o The company loses interest in the programme after six months. o The workforce and the management do not agree on what needs to happen. o Urgent problems intervene. o TQM is imposed on the workforce, which does not inwardly accept it. o No performance measure or targets are set, so progress cannot be measured. o Processes are not analysed, systems are weak and procedures are not written down.

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A philosophy that involves everyone in an organization in a continual effort to improve quality & achieve customer satisfaction. Top management commitment & support Focus on both internal & external customers. Employee involvement & empowerment Continuous improvement Partnership with suppliers Establishing performance measures for processes.

Phylosophy of TQM What characterizes TQM is the focus on identifying root causes of quality problems and correcting them at the source, as opposed to inspecting the product after it has been made. Not only does TQM encompass the entire organization, but it stresses that quality is customer driven. TQM attempts to embed quality in every aspect of the organization. It is concerned with technical aspects of quality as well as the involvement of people in quality, such as customers, company employees, and suppliers. Here we look at the specific concepts that make up the philosophy of TQM. Customer Focus The first, and overriding, feature of TQM is the companys focus on its customers. Quality is defined as meeting or exceeding customer expectations. The goal is to first identify and then meet customer

needs. TQM recognizes that a perfectly produced product has little value if it is not what the customer wants. Therefore, we can say that quality is customer driven. However, it is not always easy to determine what the customer wants, because tastes and preferences change. Also, customer expectations often vary from one customer to the next. For example, in the auto industry trends change relatively quickly, from small cars to sports utility vehicles and back to small cars. The same is true in the retail industry, where styles and fashion are short lived. Companies need to continually gather information by means of focus groups, market surveys, and customer interviews in order to stay in tune with what customers want. They must always remember that they would not be in business if it were not for their customers. Continuous Improvement Another concept of the TQM philosophy is the focus on continuous improvement. Traditional systems operated on the assumption that once a company achieved a certain level of quality, it was successful and needed no further improvements. We tend to think of improvement in terms of plateaus that are to be achieved, such as passing a certification test or reducing the number of defects to a certain level. Traditionally, change for American managers involves large magnitudes, such as major organizational restructuring. The Japanese, on the other hand, believe that the best and most lasting changes come from gradual improvements. To use an analogy, they believe that it is better to take frequent small doses of medicine than to take one large dose. Continuous improvement, called kaizen by the Japanese, requires that the company continually strive to be better through learning and problem solving. Because we can never achieve perfection, we must always evaluate our performance and take measures to improve it. Now lets look at two approaches that can help companies with continuous improvement: the plan do study act (PDSA) cycle and benchmarking. The plandostudyact (PDSA) cycle describes the activities a company needs to perform in order to incorporate continuous improvement in its operation. This cycle, shown in Figure 5-6 is also referred to as the Shewhart cycle or the Deming wheel. The circular nature of this cycle shows that continuous improvement is a never-ending process. Lets look at the specific steps in the cycle. Plan The first step in the PDSA cycle is to plan. Managers must evaluate the current process and make plans based on any problems they find. They need to document all current procedures, collect data, and identify problems. This information should then be studied and used to develop a plan for improvement as well as specific measures to evaluate performance. Do The next step in the cycle is implementing the plan (do). During the implementation process managers should document all changes made and collect data for evaluation. Study The third step is to study the data collected in the previous phase. The data are evaluated to see whether the plan is achieving the goals established in the plan phase. Act The last phase of the cycle is to act on the basis of the results of the first three phases. The best way to accomplish this is to communicate the results to other members in the company and then implement the new procedure if it has been successful. Note that this is a cycle; the next step is to plan again. After we have acted, we need to continue evaluating the process, planning, and repeating the cycle again.