What are the Key TQM (Total Quality Management) concepts and tenets?

TQM is a management approach that was initiated in the 1950’s, and it gained momentum in 1980’s. Rib Collard and Gill Sivyer describe TQM as a cost-effective system for integrating the continuous quality improvement efforts of people at all levels in the organization to deliver products and services which ensure customer satisfaction.

TQM is a necessary approach for achieving outstanding performance to meet customer’s satisfaction with high quality, timely delivery, and reasonable and competitive pricing.

The key concepts involved in TQM are-
Commitment of the decision makers – The top management has to implement TQM from their side first. It will reflect management’s seriousness towards quality standards in the organization. This commitment will have synergy effect in the entire organization.

Keep customer satisfaction as the goal – The entire quality implementation has to be customer focused. Unless the customer is impressed by the services or products of the organization, the organization will not increase its revenue. The main aim is to understand the needs and demands of customers to implement TQM in the organization.

No defects philosophy – The quality auditors should find it difficult to identify defects. Prevention of defects should be the philosophy rather than detection of the defects.

Responsibility of everyone – TQM implementation ensures that all the departments and each individual is responsible for quality outcome. It is no longer the sole responsibility of the Quality Control Department. The lesser the involvement of the Quality Control Department, higher the quality control implemented by the employees. TQM is a guiding philosophy that everyone shares in the organization.

Quality as a measuring commodity – TQM concept underlines that quality is a measurable commodity and the level of quality can be quantified through various tools. Basis this idea, if we know the level of quality, we can work on improving the level of quality.

TQM as a continuous improvement concept – TQM works on the concept that there can be improvement in all areas. This is achieved by continuously measuring and observing all processes, systems, products, etc. Instead of zeroing on the person for defects, TQM focuses on the systems and processes which caused the problem. It is implemented step by step and not rolled out on a grand scale. The observations are taken and the employees are taken into confidence as a change is always objected by most of the employees.

Involvement of employees – As already discussed, TQM is the responsibility of everyone in the organization. The employees need to contribute and empowered for successful implementation of TQM. Every person in the organization becomes an active participant and the management should ensure that all the employees have the necessary resources at their disposal to carry out the activities efficiently and effectively.

Root cause analysis – It is not necessary that problems will stop coming once a corrective action is taken. Hence under TQM, the root cause of a problem is identified and corrective measures are taken to ensure such a problem doesn’t occur again.

Setting standards (Benchmarking) – TQM concept believes to be the best in customer satisfaction. Hence, a benchmarking is done by setting standards with competitor’s best practices and offerings. Then all the steps are taken to meet and surpass these benchmarks.

Synergy of teams – Dr. Ishikawa formalized the concept of “Quality Circles” in which the team is involved in taking steps to implement TQM. Through synergy of teams the problems and defects are easily tackled by bringing improvements. Quality circle consists of team members from the same department who meet and discuss problems, challenges and give suggestion for bringing improvements in processes, systems, etc. under the guidance of a mentor who acts as a facilitator.

Inventory reduction –Organizations under TQM practice, do not store unnecessary inventory. Inventory is ordered from suppliers as and when required. Under TQM, the concept of just-in-time inventory is practiced. It was observed that with just the required inventory, the quality of products and processes is improved.

Long term relationship with suppliers – It has been observed that buying from suppliers which offer supplies at reduced cost doesn’t reduce cost as compared to buying quality supplies from a supplier for a longer duration. The overall life cycle cost is reduced with a long term supplier. Quality is often affected if supplies/ raw-materials are bought from low cost suppliers in the long run.

Reduced costs with quality production – This is referred to as Value Improvement. Products or services are made available to customers by reducing the unnecessary costs while the product is passing through various stages before reaching the customer.

Training – Under TQM, training is considered a basic element. Continuous improvement is achieved through training implementation at all levels.

Tenets of Total Quality Management –
We will discuss the TQM tenets by one of the quality gurus, Dr. Joseph Juran. Dr. Juran states that quality is not achieved overnight, and there are no shortcuts to it. According to him, quality has to be achieved by planning and taking small steps at a time. The contribution of the management becomes very critical. He believed that 80% of the problems related to quality crop up because of poor management. Dr. Juran underlined following measures to improve quality –

• Clearly define the goals to be achieved
• Chalk out plans for reaching these goals
• Assign responsibility to meet these goals,
• Rewards for the results achieved