Many businesses find maintaining dominance in today’s ever-changing global market challenging. However, organizations focused on improving their overall organizational management capabilities have maintained their competitive edge in this rapidly changing marketplace. One way to remain competitive is by implementing total quality management (TQM).
What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?
TQM is a management approach that emphasizes the continuous improvement of an organization’s products and services. It involves using data, effective communication, and strategy to integrate quality into employees and the entire organization.
TQM is designed to improve customer satisfaction, supply chain management, and train employees.
Total Quality Management (TQM) FAQs
What is the Purpose of Total Quality Management?
- Customer focus: Every organization wants to ensure its products and services meet customer needs.
- Integrated system: This system ensures all aspects of a business are effectively coordinated and standards like ISO 9000 are incorporated.
- Fact-based decision making: Making decisions based on customer retention, profit, and sales data.
- Employee involvement: Employees should be able to provide input on how their work impacts the customer.
- Continuous improvement: Continuous improvement is a mindset that strives for continual improvement through quality-checking all aspects of an organization.
- Process-centric approach: Each production level is assessed and monitored for quality output (not just the final production level).
- Strategic and systematic approach: An organization should have a plan or objective to achieve its mission and vision.
- Relationship management: Better stakeholder relations can improve customer service, profits, and the work environment.
What is an Example of TQM in Practice?
An excellent example of TQM is Toyota Motor Corporation. The company has been recognized as a leader in TQM for many years. Toyota has implemented several TQM principles and practices through the Kanban System, making its assembly line more efficient.
What are the Primary Concepts of TQM?
- Quality: This is the degree to which a product or service meets the customer’s requirements.
- Quality assurance: QA is a process that monitors and measures the quality of products and services to determine if they meet customer expectations.
- Quality control: QC is a system for ensuring that products and services meet predetermined quality standards.
- Quality policy: This is a policy that establishes the overall objectives and goals of quality management, describes how to achieve these objectives, and guides employees on how they should conduct their work.
- Conformity: This is the degree to which a product, process, or organization meets the requirements of a specific customer or market.
How Do You Measure TQM Outcomes?
- Customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction surveys are often used to measure customer satisfaction with a product or service.
- Process efficiency: organizations measure process efficiency by looking at the time it takes to complete a process, or the number of errors made.
- Financial performance: Financial performance looks at profitability, return on investment, or cost savings.
- Employee engagement and satisfaction: Organizations measure employee engagement and satisfaction through surveys or by looking at how often employees take actions that improve processes.
What is a TQM Diagram?
A TQM diagram is a visual representation of the processes and activities involved in a TQM initiative. It’s used to communicate the TQM approach and help all members of an organization understand their roles and responsibilities in the improvement process.