What is Total Quality Management?

What is Total Quality Management?

TQM is a management philosophy, a paradigm, a continuous improvement approach to doing business through a new management model.  The TQM philosophy evolved from the continuous improvement philosophy with a focus on quality as the main dimension of business.  Under TQM, emphasizing the quality of the product or service predominates.  TQM expands beyond statistical process control to embrace a wider scope of management activities of how we manage people and organizations by focusing on the entire process, not just simple measurements.

TQM is a comprehensive management system which:

• Focuses on meeting owners’/customers’ needs by providing quality services at a cost that provides value to the owners/customers
• Is driven by the quest for continuous improvement in all operations
• Recognizes that everyone in the organization has owners/customers who are either internal or external
• Views an organization as an internal system with a common aim rather than as individual departments acting to maximize their own performances
• Focuses on the way tasks are accomplished rather than simply what tasks are accomplished
• Emphasizes teamwork and a high level of participation by all employees

TQM beliefs

• Presented here are universal total quality management beliefs.
• Owner/customer satisfaction is the measure of quality
• Everyone has owners/customers; everyone is an owner/customer
• Quality improvement must be continuous
• Analyzing the processes used to create products and services is key to quality improvement
• Measurement, a skilled use of analytical tools, and employee involvement are critical sources of quality improvement ideas and innovations
• Sustained total quality management is not possible without active, visible, consistent, and enabling leadership by managers at all levels
• If we do not continuously improve the quality of products and services that we provide our owners/customers, someone else will