Total Quality Management
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines Total Quality Management (TQM) as a, "management approach for an organization, centered on quality, based on the participation of all its members and aiming at long-term success through customer satisfaction, and benefits to all members of the organization and to society" (Total Quality Management). Although TQM didn't become popular until the 1980's, the management approach originated in the 1950's. This paper begins by discussing the types of problems that TQM seeks to solve and the mechanisms it uses to solve these issues. It next discusses how globalization and demonstrated success by many companies have made TQM an imperative for most organizations to survive in an increasingly competitive environment. Even so, failure rates for TQM implementations are high. Therefore, this paper concludes by identifying common reasons for failure and by making specific recommendations to increase the liklihood of a sucessful implementation.Contrary to its common association with the assembly line, TQM applies to the entire organization. It is mainly concerned with continuous improvement in all work, from high level strategic planning and decision-making, to detailed exe
These steps include identifying tasks, creating necessary management structures, developing strategies for building commitment, designing mechanisms to communicate the change, and assigning resources (Hashmi). Although managers are still leaders, TQM is a participative management style that stresses total staff commitment to "customer" satisfaction (TQM). A central principle of TQM is that most mistakes are caused by faulty systems and processes, not people (Hashmi). As globalization accelerated over the past few decades, businesses, particularly automotive and electronics manufacturers realized that they needed ways to improve process efficiency and product quality to remain competitive (Farazmand). Identifying tasks involves studying present conditions ; assessing readiness, such as through a force field analysis; creating a model of the desired state, announcing the change goals to the organization; and assigning responsibilities and resources (Hashmi). Continuous improvement must deal with improving results, and, more importantly with improving capabilities to produce better results in the future. TQM offers three major mechanisms of prevention (Hashmi): 1. People are resistant to change and lack of communication will only make the problem worse. An organization should have a collaborative relationship with consultants and clearly define role definitions and activities. To do so, it evaluated recipients of Malcom Baldrige award and companies that were being considered for the award. Although TQM has proven to offer tremendous benefits and is necessary for survival in the global economy, only twenty to thirty-five percent of companies trying to implement TQM succeed (Gatchalian, 1997). Preventing mistakes (defects) from occurring (Mistake - proofing or Poka-Yoke). Early on, Japan internalized the values of TQM as a philosophy in its work culture and was handsomely rewarded. Globalization has fueled the adoption of TQM.
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