Total Quality Management

What is TQM

Why choose TQM

Pros

Cons

Principles of TQM

Executive Management

Training

Customer Focus

Decision Making

Continuous Improvement

Employee Involvement

Costs associated with TQM

Prevention Costs

Appraisal Costs

Failure Costs

How to implement TQM

Different Approaches

Strategies to Develop TQM

I. What is TQM

Total Quality Management began in Japan industry in the 1950's and has been gaining popularity in the West since the 1980's( managementhelp.org). Total Quality Management can be described as a set of management practices followed throughout an organization that ensures the organization consistently meets or exceeds customer requirements ( managementhelp.org). TQM promotes a culture that focuses on quality in all aspects of an organization in order to meet or exceed customer expectations.

II Why choose TQM?

Like all business decisions, there are pros and cons to adopting a total quality management strategy. One of the pros involved with tqm is the focus on continual improvement. The organization will constantly focus on improving it's operations which should result in a more efficient organization overall (Helium.com). Another pro is that total quality management is customer-first oriented. By viewing the product from the eyes of the consumer, developers are better able to see what works and what does not. They are then able to find the problems and fix them. Another benefit of tqm is that operations are performed correctly the first time (Helium.com). This helps cut both costs and time.

Along with these pros there are also cons to adopting a tqm approach. One problem is actually a result of the first pro listed. When focusing on constant improvement, organizations look for the places that require the most help and attempt to fix them first. This means that operations that are already working properly will probably be overlooked until a problem occurs in that area (businessknowledgesource.com). Another con is that the organizations operations are looked at from a consumer's point of view. This prevents the engineers and