Viewpoints – Total Quality Management

Viewpoints – Total Quality Management

University of Phoenix

The quality management viewpoint sticks out to me as the most useful and utilized viewpoint. It includes quality control, quality assurance and total quality management. In order to define these I first must define quality. “Quality refers to the total ability of a product or service to meet customer needs (Kinicki 2016).”  

I have heard it countless times in my life, “quality over quantity”. A company sustains itself not because they deliver the most quantity. It’s the quality that brings the customer back and keeps the company in business for the long run. There are two traditional strategies for ensuring quality; quality control and quality assurance.

“Quality control is defined as the strategy for minimizing errors by managing each stage of production. (Kinicki 2016)” Quality assurance focuses on the performance of workers, urging employee to strive for ‘zero defects’” (Kinicki 2016). These two strategies really go hand in hand and cannot be separated. They must both be accomplished simultaneously. Otherwise, if one is lacking in some way the quality of a good or service is diminished and could cause some serious company issues with clients and consumers.

“Total quality management (TQM) is a comprehensive approach, led by top management and supported throughout the organization, dedicated to continuous quality improvement, training and customer satisfaction” (Kinicki 2016). There are four components of total quality management. First, continuous improvement must be a priority. Second, managers must have every employee involved. Teamwork is paramount to TQM. Third, managers must listen and learn from customers and employees when there are any suggestions made. Finally, managers must use proper standards to find and eliminate any problems.