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The Concept of Total Quality Management

   

Added on  2020-02-05

14 Pages3751 Words60 Views
Running head: TQM 1Total quality management (TQM) in improving the performance and efficiency of organizationsStudent’s nameCourse codeLecturerInstitutionSubmission date

TQM 2IntroductionTotal quality management is an important tool that can guarantee long term success of a firm. It has been an important aspect of enhancing the efficiency of an organization as it focuses on continuous improvement of organization processes to provide superior customer value while simultaneously enhancing efficiency and cost control measures. TQM is an approach used by management since 1950s and its applications became more popular since 1980s as many organizations have adopted its principles and applications. Total quality management is an explanation of the attitude, culture and organization of a firm whose intention is to provide goods and services that fulfill the customer needs and thus, the management and the employees have a big responsibility of executing continuous improvement processes .In addition, it is a combination of managerial tools and quality aimed at reducing losses as a result of wasteful processes and practices while promoting the business prospects and profitability.Basic overview of TQMTQM is defined as a management philosophy that strives to combine all functions of the organization that entail production, marketing, engineering, finance, customer service and designto attain the objective of the organization and to meet the needs of the customers(Daft et al,2010).In this case, it is worth noting that TQM considers an organization as an integration of processes and holds that an organization should work to continuously make appropriate improvement by incorporating the experience and knowledge of the employees, which makes it adaptable and variable. Although the process was mainly applied in the manufacturing sector, it is currently recognized and accepted as a generic management tool, where it is applied also in thepublic and service sector firms (Cumming &Worley, 2015).

TQM 3Principle of TQMThere are several key principles of TQM and these are management commitment, employee empowerment, customer focus, continuous improvement, and fact based decision making processes. The management commitment involves planning, implementing the plan, reviewing the plans and strategies and acting or makes the requisite revision. Employees’ empowerment involves training, forming teams for excellence, coming up with suggestion schemes and measurement and recognition of the services of the staff. The fact based decision making involves statistical process control, the 7 statistical tools and TOPS .The ongoing process improvement entails coming up with excellence teams, cross functional process management, systematic measurement and improving and maintaining good standards. The customer focus involves adopting customer driven standards, ensuring quality, and supplier partnership (Child, 2015).The concept of TQM's continuous improvementTQM is principally after continuous improvement in all categories of works, from the high level decision making process and strategic planning to the actual implementation of the elements of work on the shop floor or functional units of the organization. TQM emanates from the notion that errors and mistakes can be prevented and promote continuously improving resultsin all aspects of jobs through organizational capabilities, processes, machine capabilities, technology, and people. Basically, continuous improvement must strive to enhance both the results and improve the ability of the organization to produce excellent results in future. The primary areas of emphasis on the improvement of capabilities are people capability, generation of demand, technology, supply generation and operations (Cumming &Worley, 2015).A chief principle of TQM is that errors and mistakes may be committed by people, but a

TQM 4large proportion of them facilitated by processes and systems that are faulty. This indicates that the main causes of the errors and problems can be detected and eradicated and repeated occurrence can be barred by improving and changing the process and system. Basically, there arethree main mechanisms that can be used to deal with problems and errors. The first is preventing the defects or errors from coming up through mistake proofing. In the case where the mistake cannot be prevented, it is important to detect them early to develop strategies that would assist in preventing them from being channeled to the value added chain as in the case with inspection at the source. When mistakes emerge again, the production process can be stopped till when there istangible correction of the process to avoid the production of more defects or effects of errors on the products and services (Child, 2015).The implementation process and principlesThe initial step in total quality management (TQM) implementation is to determine and analyze the current situation and reality of the organization. These may include the history of the organization, the existing needs, the events that lead to adoption of TQM, and the quality of employees' working life . If the reality in the organization does not involve important preconditions that precipitate change management, then the execution of TQM should be delayedor postponed till when the firm is in a position that will make TQM successful (Oakland, 2000).If the entity has a history of responding effectively to the environment and it has been in agood position to adapt the change process well, it will be easier to execute TQM strategies. In cases where a firm has been reactive and does not wield the requisite skill for enhancing its operational systems, there will be skepticism among the employees and the organization will lack the change agents that are skilled (O'Mahoney & Markham, 2010). If this situation continues to exist in the organization, a comprehensive leadership development and management

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