Total Quality Management Case Essay Example for Free

Total Quality Management Case Essay Total Quality Management (TQM), is a management philosophy that gained its momentum in the 1980s. W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, and Kaoru Ishikawa are the founders who set forth the fundamentals of total quality management. In a matter of a decades time total quality management turned into a social movement and gained a significant level of acceptance in the U.S management community (J. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman, 1995). The primary authorities of the total quality management movement are of the opinion that being in business is the main objective of any organization. This in turn helps in the stability of the community and provides a platform for the growth and satisfaction of the organization members (J. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman, 1995). Hence we can say that total quality management refers to a management process that involves everyone and all the activities in an organization to ensure that the customer requirements are met at the same time the goals of the organization are satisfied and helps in the self-improvement of employees. Total quality management has radically changed the way in which traditionally quality was handled. A comparison and contrast of the two approaches highlights the advantages of total quality management over the traditional style. Traditionally quality was defined internally in an organization. Products or services were assumed to be of good quality if the organization thought so. But according to total quality management customer satisfaction is the primary criteria to define quality. It was believed that poor quality was a resultant of poor and inefficient work exhibited by the workers but total quality management attributes the quality assurance to the management and not the workers alone. Apart from team building total quality management stresses on the principle that the efficiency of cross-functional teams increases quality. This is in contrast with the traditional thought of building teams and concentrating on high amount of efficient teamwork. Inspection was a common method used earlier to maintain quality but total quality management stresses more on assuring quality by enforcing certain processes. (TQM Vs Traditional management style. Retrieved on 04/27/2007, from http://www.leanmanufacturingconcepts.com/TQMVsTraditionalManagementStyle.htm) For a long period of time quality was localized to the organization where it was determined but in the recent times globalization is the buzzword. Economic globalization refers to the integration of the various markets across the world to promote their respective business. It is the exchange of capital, products and services at a global level. When we look at the impact that globalization has caused on quality the most striking feature is that quality must be demonstrated at a global comparison level. Globalization has led to the development of international trade and new opportunities for any business to grow and expand to become competitive in an international market. To survive in the international market there is a need for constant improvement in quality and other management practices. Globalization has brought with it high levels of competition and progress in technology and innovation that it becomes mandatory to adhere to international standards for quality assurance. The certification of the quality by an international body is one method to achieve it. Businesses involved in international trade rely on the government for developing national quality policies, which shows the nations quality consciousness that in turn, will be reflected in the international scenario. While applying total quality management in any organization, best practices must be developed and followed across the organization to realize the philosophy of total quality management. Some of the most commonly used techniques are described below. â€Å"Formation of short-term problem-solving teams with the overall objective of simplifying and streamlining work practices.† (J. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman, 1995) the problems addressed by these teams include issues in cross-functional involvement and with-in unit workflow problems (J. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman, 1995). While implementing total quality management in an organization there is a need for investing time and money in training the employees of the organization. â€Å"Top-Down implementation† is a very important practice that focuses on the philosophy that quality is the responsibility of top management (J. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman, 1995).   The top management is first introduced to the quality practices that are then passed on to the lower levels in the hierarchy. To know what are the customer preferences greatly helps in satisfying the customer hence it is necessary to device mechanisms to obtain customer data. Methods that can be used to obtain customer data include â€Å"toll-free complaint lines, market research firms and customer focus groups† (J. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman, 1995). â€Å"Competitive benchmarking and employee involvement† are features that are in the most recent times being used in implementing total quality management. Benchmarking is useful to understand customer requirements, In order to meet customer requirements it is some times essential to opt for alternatives in work processes and determining the goals that have to be achieved in terms of quality (J. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman, 1995). To aspire the employees of the organization to become more and more quality conscious it’s a good idea to introduce methods by which the employee can be involved in quality. Some of the well-known methods are celebration of quality related events and use of quality days or weeks to stress upon quality improvement. At the same time programs must be developed to ensure employee satisfaction by providing proper appraisals based on performance. Ultimately the implementation of total quality management in an organization should be in-sync with the fundamental philosophy of â€Å"†¦perpetual improvement in everything we do.† (Dexter A. Hansen) References Richard Hackman.J, Ruth Wageman (1995). Total Quality Management: Empirical, conceptual, and Practical Issues. Journal article Administrative Science Quarterly, 40 Total Quality Management Vs Traditional Style, retrieved date 04/27/2007 http://www.leanmanufacturingconcepts.com/TQMVsTraditionalManagementStyle.htm United nations economic commission of Europe, Best Practice in the Creation of Quality Systems for Enhancing Competitiveness of SMEs, retrieved on, http://www.unece.org/indust/sme/quality.html