An Examination of Total Quality Management: Development and Elements

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of quality management, tracing its development and highlighting its importance in modern organizations. It explores the evolution of quality management practices, from traditional approaches to contemporary methods, emphasizing the shift towards Total Quality Management (TQM). The essay delves into the core elements of TQM, including customer focus, continuous improvement, and the role of top management commitment. It also examines the differences between old and new quality management practices, addressing issues in older systems and showcasing innovative solutions in newer systems. The document concludes by underscoring the significance of integrating quality management principles to enhance business performance and meet stakeholder expectations. Find more essays and study resources on Desklib to help with your academic journey.

Running head: TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Development of quality management............................................................................2
Importance of quality management................................................................................3
Old and new practices of quality management..............................................................6
Total quality management..............................................................................................8
Conclusion......................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Quality is a measurement of the excellence or the state where the manufacturing
operations are free from the defects, significant variations and deficiencies. The process of
quality is implemented by consistent and strict commitments to the certain standards which
help in achieving uniformity in the products. Quality can also be defined as the totality of the
characteristics and features of a service or product which bears the ability to satisfy the needs.
The ways by which the organizations perform for its stakeholders can also be defined as
quality. Quality is considered to be an important factor that is related to the success of the
various organizations (Bernardo 2014).
Development of quality management
The management of quality includes various processes in the organizations like,
improvement of the services, products, processes and the systems. Managing quality also
relates to pursuing excellence constantly and ensuring that the organization performs the
duties and the responsibilities that they are supposed to perform. The quality maintenance
related procedures of the organizations mainly deal with the stakeholders of the company and
their satisfaction levels. The most important stakeholders of the company in this case are the
customers for most of the business organizations belonging to different industries or sectors.
The organization can deliver quality by understanding the needs and the demands of the
customers and meeting the needs in a successful manner (Bortolotti, Boscari and Danese
2015).
The efficient process of quality management can further help the organizations to
enhance the reputation of the brands and protect the company against risks. Quality in an
organization is applicable to every service product task or process or even the decisions that
are taken by the management. The entire organization and its members have the

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responsibility to maintain quality. The organizations always need to appoint people who can
be helpful in maintaining the quality standards. These people are known as the quality
professionals. The titles that are given to these professionals can be quality manager, quality
director and quality engineer (Chang 2016). Some of these quality professionals are
concerned with delivery of services and products and on the other hand, some of them are
related to the leadership related processes in organizations. The concept that unites the quality
professionals with their dedication for strengthening and protecting the organizations is
ensuring that the needs of the stakeholders are met successfully.
As discussed by, Cooper (2017) the top management of the organization needs to be
committed towards the maintenance of quality. The three major things that underpin the
process of quality management in a successful manner are, effective governance which
defines the aims of the organization, the robust assurance systems which ensures that all the
processes are on track and the culture of improvement.
Importance of quality management
Quality management system is related to a collection of various business processes
which consistently focus on meeting the needs of the customers and enhancing the levels of
satisfaction. This process is aligned with the strategic direction and the purpose of the
organization. Quality management is expressed as organizational goals, policies, processes,
aspirations and resources which are required to implement and maintain quality in the
organizations. The process of quality management integrates the different internal processes
in the organizations and aims at providing a process approach for the purpose of project
execution (Fernie and Sparks 2014).
As argued by, Hazen et al. (2014), the core business processes of the organizations
can be identified, measured, controlled and improved with the help of proper quality

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management system. The concept of quality management is quite simple in nature and it aims
at, recognising the requirements of the interested parties, the customer requirements and the
chosen standards of management. The system ensures that all the requirements are met. The
system also confirms that employees are able to receive the training that is applicable for
them. The quality management system further determines the processes, the interaction
between the processes and the inputs and outputs.
The quality management system is considered to be an integrative element which
unites the diverse aspects of the organization into a unified purpose related to the delivery of
the services or products in the best possible form. The quality management system should be
seen as a cost burden by the management of an organization. The managers or the leaders
need to view this system as the major component of success of the organization. The main
focus of the quality management system of the organization is to become centred on the
services or goods that are provided to the consumers. The management needs to implement a
program that will be based on the continuous improvement of the processes of the
organizations (Hoyle 2017). The efficiency of the organization needs to be increased by
reducing the amount of wastes and maximizing the resources. The QMS system facilitates or
aids the clear understanding of the expectations of the participants or the employees of the
organizations. The measurement of data and accurate collection of data are also incorporated
so that decision-making can be supported. The documentation that is related to the process of
quality management is also maintained (Kwon, Lee and Shin 2014).
According to, Lozano (2015), the main purpose of the quality management system is
to deliver the products that are desired by the customers and further satisfying their needs and
demands. The QMS related activities are not limited only to the quality team of the
organization. The activities of the quality team are only a small percentage of the entire
process of QMS. The Quality team of the organization mainly enables and then supports the

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successful process of deployment of QMS in the various organizations. QMS is considered to
be a tool of the organization and the Quality team is the driver. The QMS of an organization
consists of many effective elements which helps the organization to achieve its goals. The
focus on customers is a major and most important part of the quality management system of
the organization. The different organizations have specific mission, vision and objective of
quality. The organizations thereby need to allocate resources that can be helpful in executing
the various quality management processes (Luo et al. 2015). A quality manual is a major part
of the entire system of quality management. The major attributes that are a part of the quality
manual are, quality policy, processes and the description of these processes. The required
resources, the services or the products that need to be delivered, the approach towards the
continuous development, the various records that need to be documented, the auditing related
mechanisms and the approach related to process correction and analysis based on data.
As discussed by, Monczka et al. (2015), the quality management related system of an
organization provides major benefits which are related to the improvement of the processes
of the various organizations. The QMS process helps in bringing a well-defined approach that
is related to the achievement of the objectives of an organization. The system also sets a
standardized requirement for the various departments and functions. The implementation of
QMS further increases the level of confidence of the customers which in turn increases the
market share of the company. The QMS process ensures that various objectives of the
organizations are linked with the needs of the customers. The system also helps in setting
clear objectives for the teams and the different job roles. The quality management process
helps the organization in assessing the problem related areas.
The practices related to quality management had been developed in the 1970s and the
early 1980s, when the developed countries like USA started facing stiff competition from the
organizations of Japan which were known to produce high quality goods in the market

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(Stoyanov et al. 2015). The key factors that were related to total quality management in the
early times include,
 Quality can be defined by the requirements of the customers.
 The top management of organizations have direct responsibility related to
quality management processes.
 The increase in quality is can be derived with the help of systematic analysis.
 The improvement of quality needs to be a continuous effort which is
conducted throughout the organization.
Old and new practices of quality management
According to, Terziovski and Guerrero (2014), the quality management certificates
were started by institutions like, British Standards Institution and the International
organization for standardisation or ISO. The other quality management institutions include,
the American Society for Quality and the Chartered Quality institute. The certificates were
given by these organizations to recognise the quality management related activities that are
performed by them. The different bodies related to standardisation were formed by countries
like, France, Belgium, Turkey, Germany and UK during 1990s. The major aim behind their
formation was that standardisation of quality management in organizations. However, later
on these standards were withdrawn and the responsibility related to the standardisation of
quality management processes was taken by ISO 9000.
The existing systems of quality management have however caused issues in the
modern organizations. The major issues in old system of quality management include,
 Non-involvement of the business management.
 Lack of effectiveness in the communication between the quality managers and
the business managers.

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 The initiatives related to quality taken by the management (Wisner, Tan and
Leong 2014).
As argued by, Zaveri et al. (2016), the innovative style of quality approach is related
to the effective solutions that provided by the new systems of quality management. The
integration of business operations is mainly related to the implementation of the efficient and
effective quality related principles. Enhancement of the business performance in a
collaborative and systematic manner. The major starting point of quality management process
is developing the identity of the organization and assessing the environment. The duty of the
business leaders is to establish, then maintain and develop the holistic identity of the
business. The new and useful practices that help in quality management are related to
defining a framework that is related to the profile of the organization. The ISO standards are
major providers of quality certificates to the various modern business organizations. The
traditional concepts of the quality management system are valid in the modern business
environment. The basic concepts of quality assurance and quality management needs to be
implemented in an integrative and innovative manner (Luo et al. 2015). Quality management
system in the modern environment is not related to the quality of the business processes, it
further relates to the quality of the management of organizations. The quality management
system is related to the basic concept of getting quality management process to happen in the
organizations. The two major parts of the concept are,
 The management system of the organization which helps in establishing the
policies and the objectives.
 A qualifier which is used for the purpose of characterizing the management
system to a degree at which it is able to fulfil the expectations of the needs of
the interested parties of the organization.

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The concept of quality assurance is related to the external purpose of the business for
creating and further strengthening the confidence of the customers. The Quality Assurance is
an issue related to communication between the organizations and the stakeholders.
Total quality management
Total quality management mainly consists of the efforts of the organizations to
develop a climate in which the organization can improve and is able to deliver the high-
quality products to the customers. The efforts related to total quality management are heavily
dependent on the previously developed tools and the techniques of quality control (Kwon,
Lee and Shin 2014).
The elements of total quality management are, integrity, trust, bricks, training,
teamwork, leadership, communication and recognition. The tools which can assist the efforts
related to total quality management are benchmarking, failure analysis, plan-do-check-act or
PDCA, process management, product design control, statistical process control. The process
of total quality management has been beneficial for organizations for traditional
organizations and the modern business organizations. The main advantages of TQM are cost
reduction, customer satisfaction, defect reduction and increasing the morale of the employees
(Terziovski and Guerrero 2014).
Conclusion
The total quality management process requires right amount of training for the
employees who are involved in the entire process. The process of total quality management
has proved to be effective for the organizations in the modern business environment as it has
been effective for the traditional organizations in the past. The management of the
organizations therefore need to implement the TQM process in an effective manner so that
they can produce high-quality products to the various customers.

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