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Business
TQMTotal Quality Management
TQMTotal Quality Management Before you can begin to understand what total quality management is, you must know what quality is. Quality is the ability to satisfy, or even exceed, the needs and expectations of the customers. Total Quality Management is a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. The participation of all members of an organization in improving processes, products, services, and the culture they work in is the basis of TQM. Total Quality Management, often called TQM, is a mind set. It is also a set of well-proven processes for achieving the mind set. The mind set is that everyone in your organization understands what their customers' expectations are and they meet those expectations every time. TQM, which has been available for many years, was originally developed in the United States and the Japanese were the first to visualize its benefits and apply it successfully. This paper will discuss the history of Total Quality Management and also its creator Dr. William Edwards Deming. Also included is Dr. Deming's 14 Points of Management, which apply anywhere from small organizations to large organizations including everything from the service industries to the manufacturing industries and everything in between. They apply to a division within a company. The final topic discussed will be how TQM is implemented in the organizations. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a participative management style that stresses total staff commitment to "customer" satisfaction. TQM is the part of management organized for the use of creating and implementing a continuous improvement process that constantly improves on the organization's effectiveness and also their efficiency. The main responsibility lies on not the workers or employees of a corporation, but rather the management. There are many very effective ways that corporations have implemented these strategies of TQM, but most commonly, it is acquired through data collection, flow charts, and diagrams. The development of Total Quality Management is attributed to Frederick W. Taylor, an engineer and the first management consultant. Statisticians, such as Walter A. Shewhart, Joseph M. Juran, Philip B. Cosby and most importantly Dr. W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993), were responsible for initiating the Total Quality Management process and share a common role in participatory management and employee improvement. Crosby believed and emphasized the "zero-defects" program of TQM. He noted his definition of quality as "meeting the customer's requirements for the first time and every time." Joseph Juran believed that system problems could be addressed through three fundamental managerial processes (planning, control, and improvement). Like his colleague's, Dr. Deming determined that quality is not acquired by the workers' abilities, but rather by their system of work, which would entail top managerial consultation. Dr. Deming taught concepts that were new to quality control, problem solving and team work just to name a couple. Dr. Deming took the idea of control of managers and turned it into one of the most common and popular forms of management, today known as Total Quality Management. Dr. William Edwards Deming was probably the most respected statistician in the world. He has won every major statistical award, was a professor emeritus at New York University, has a Japanese award for quality called "The Deming Prize" which is given to a single company each year, has written more than 170 scientific papers along with several books, and is a management and quality control consultant to major companies throughout the world. Dr. Deming has been a private consultant since 1946. Although he has been helping companies worldwide for many decades, quality has only recently been popularly acknowledged as one of the most pressing issues in business. Organizations both large and small are slowly adopting the philosophy that management is the key difference. Most companies feel like they produce products or services to make a profit, but Deming's philosophy says organizations produce products and services that help people live better. In return this develops loyal customers, which according to Deming, is where the real profits are generated – by loyal customers, not just satisfied customers. In order to completely understand Dr. Deming's philosophy, you must first comprehend four important axioms: 1. Quality and cost are not opposites or tradeoffs, with one being improved at the expense of the other. Instead both can be constantly improved. 2. The meaning of quality is different from conventional views that mistake exotic materials and fail-safe designs for quality. In Deming's view, quality is best understood from the point of view of the customer, but one important component of quality is improving uniformity. 3. Variation is a naturally occurring phenomenon. It is not an exception or fault. Variation is treated differently depending on whether we are dealing with a stable or unstable system. A stable system creates both successes and failures. Lowering the number of defects in a stable system can only be achieved by working on the system. 4. Cooperation is a fundamental ingredient that leads to improvement. Competition is often at work and helps determine which products and which companies survive, but there are times when competition is irrelevant and times when competition is inappropriate. Dr. Deming has developed a number of guidelines for the transformation of management, which he calls the fourteen points. It is an almost instinctive reaction to try and pick out those of the fourteen points that seem most applicable to a company in its present state. This is a major mistake. The fourteen points are guidelines for the transformation of a company from one state into another. An example of this type of transformation is the way a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. The caterpillar must undergo a complete change in order to become a butterfly. Have you ever seen a butterfly with 100 legs? This is the same philosophy the company must abide by. If the company is going to undergo the change associated with Dr. Deming's philosophy, it must change completely, including all fundamental beliefs and practices. Several times, Dr. Deming's Fourteen Points for Management have been mentioned. The following list is Dr. Deming's Fourteen Points for Management. 1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs. 2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change. 3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place. 4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty ad trust. 5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs. 7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers. 8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company. 9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service. 10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force. 11. A) Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership. B) Eliminate management by objectives. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership. 12. A) Remove barriers that rob the hourly workers of their right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. B) Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual merit rating and of management by objectives. 13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement. 14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job. Dr. Deming's definition of constant improvement is central to his philosophy. He repeatedly talks about constancy and how the concept of constancy begins and ends with the customer. Many U.S. companies don't have these same convictions. Success depends on how well a company evaluates the processes, products, and markets of today to figure out what the customer will want tomorrow, and whether a company has the management conviction to change accordingly. U.S. companies may think this is obvious, but the evidence of the marketplace shows that many have become so sidetracked by short-term interests that even if they do have a long-term strategy it often lacks commitment from top management and is frequently undermined by contradictory policies and actions. IV. IMPLEMENTATION OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT When trying to implement Total Quality Management it requires both behavioral and cultural change. A successful Total Quality Management brings two other management systems together with a behavioral and cultural commitment to customer quality. There are three basic approaches to implementing TQM. This approach can be looked upon as a "concept of management" that fine tunes and revitalizes management in producing bottom line products or services resulting in customer satisfaction. With this approach management and individuals of the organization are usually operating fairly effectively and Total Quality Management becomes the "accepted advantage." Kawamoto, who became CEO of Honda, implemented Total Quality Management after the founder, Soichiro, told him to because times had changed. When they implemented TQM, production lines were reconfigured to speed the process and allow greater flexibility. Engineers were expected to create designs that could be manufactured more efficiently. Honda's new strategy, which Kawamoto describes as customer focused, has increased sales and improved profits. The second approach can be approached as a "system of management" that provides processes and competencies currently lacking and needed by management. This approach is used when TQM is already in place but needs to be brought up to speed. The basic areas are conflict resolution, decision making, and meeting management, as well as in traditional areas of measurement and continuous learning. In these cases, companies benefit from well designed "TQM Initiatives" that have all the external power for "changing culture to a supportive role" while getting the necessary immediate behavioral changes needed for quality performance and expense justification. With this approach, the Q-S.T.E.P. is used. The Q-S.T.E.P., simplifies quality into five basic competencies (Quality Performance, Skill Maximization, Team Participation, Excellence for Customers, and Prevention of Waste). The Q-S.T.E.P. works with existing culture and takes advantage of current "good practices". The last approach is usually referred to as the traditional management approach. This approach is the most common and is also the cause of most failure. This approach usually aims mainly at changing behavior not culture that drives or supports that behavior change. When trying to implement Total Quality management you need to affect both internal and external change agents, projecting immediate benefits and long term commitments.V. CONCLUSION Total Quality Management, a concept created by Dr. William Edwards Deming and developed by Frederick W. Taylor, is a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. To be achieved, all members of an organization must be committed to maximizing customer satisfaction. TQM is a mind set, that each member of the organization must understand in order to be complete. Though adaptation of Deming's management philosophy has been slow in many organizations, his idea of developing a following of loyal customers (not just satisfied customers) through high quality is helping companies to consistently meet their customers' expectations. Dr. Deming's philosophy is a complex one, but his concepts of constancy in improvement and total customer satisfaction are the foundation. Deming has developed four axioms and fourteen points which serve as guidelines for companies during the transformation that occurs when TQM is implemented. His fourteen points of management are essential to helping companies achieve their goal, but an organization must realize that trying to highlight one or two points that need improvement and omitting others defeats the strategy altogether. The points must be used together with emphasis on each in order to maximize results. In order for a company to achieve implementation of total quality management, they must realize that both behavioral and cultural change are necessary for success. There are three basis implementations of TQM including concept of management, system of management (in which the Q-S.T.E.P. process is used), and traditional management. A company can decide on their implementation plan based on their personal needs. Dr. William Edwards Deming's philosophy of total quality management has proved effective in many organizations, and if companies are willing to embrace all of its ideas and concepts, it can be successful for them. Bibliography: REFERENCES Aguayo, R. (1990). Dr. Deming The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality. New York: Carol Publishing Group. Gabor, A. (1990). The Man Who Discovered QUALITY. New York: Times Books, a division of Random House Inc. Green, L. TQM FAQ's. [Online]. Retrieved October 11, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.skyenet.net/~leg/tqmodel/tqmfaq.htm. Green, L. TQM Total Quality Management Diagnostics. [Online]. Retrieved October 17, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.skyenet.net/~leg/tqm.htm. Hellriegel, D., Jackson, S., Slocum, J. (1999). Management 8th Edition Ohio: South-Western College Publishing. Author Unknown. [Online]. Retrieved October 12, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.eskimo.com/~mighetto/1stqm.htm.
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