Elements Of Total Quality Management For Tqm example essay topic

Introduction Total Quality Management (TQM) is now a part of all sectors and its language has become part of our everyday business speech. It is an approach for continuously improving the quality of goods and services, delivered through the participation of all levels and functions of the organization, so as to achieve customers's atis faction, long-term profitability of the organization and benefit of its members It is a way of thinking about goals, organizations, processes and people to ensure that the right things are done right the first time. This thought process can change attitudes, behavior and hence results for the better. Customers and producers view quality in different ways.

The customers view quality from the design and consider both the product's feature and performance measures to assess its value. The producers view quality from the product's conformance to requirements and the costs of quality as increasing quality conformance will reduce product costs and raise profits. History of Total Quality Management Dr. W. Edward Deming is considered the pioneer of the TQM movement. He started his quality endeavor in Japan in the 1940's and is well known for helping Japanese companies apply Shewhart's statistical process control. Deming believed that with improved quality, it will lead to the decrease in costs which will result in improved productivity. Improved productivity would mean that the organization has products with higher quality at less cost and thus, the organization will have a greater market share.

The organization will therefore stay in business and provide jobs and more jobs. Other renowned gurus of TQM include Joseph Juran who was also well-known for helping improve Japanese quality. He developed the Juran Trilogy for managing quality: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. Another well known quality innovator is Philip Crosby who developed the four absolutes of quality as follows: o Quality is defined by conformance to requirements o The system for causing quality is prevention and not appraisal o The performance standard is zero defects and not close enough o Quality is measured by the cost of nonconformance What is Total Quality Management?

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach to management that seeks continual improvement in everything we do. It is concerned with the performance of all the processes in the organization and the products and services that are the outcomes of those processes. TQM stresses the creative involvement of everyone from the Chief Executive Officer down, in the quest for quality. It emphasizes team activity, brings pride in performance to all levels of the organization, develops more informed and supportive managers and supervisors, and so leads to an improved climate in the workplace.

It offers lower costs and improved productivity, leading to greater effectiveness, long-term competitive advantage, and improved job prospects. When all of its elements are implemented properly, TQM is like a well-build house. It's solid, strong and cohesive. If TQM is not planned for and implemented correctly, it will be structurally weak and will probably fail. Thus, TQM can be defined as a management philosophy which seeks to integrate all organizational functions to focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives. Why is TQM important to an organization?

TQM is about building quality in from the beginning and making quality everyone's concern and responsibility. Consumers are willing to pay more for goods and services of higher quality. Adopting TQM can let an organization gain competitive advantage and establish a new culture which will enable growth and longevity. It will also provide a working environment in which everyone can succeed, has reduced stress, waste and friction. In addition, TQM build teams, partnerships and co-operations When does an organization adopt TQM? According to IA, TQM can be adopted at any time after executive management has seen the error of its ways, opened its mind and embraced the TQM philosophy.

It cannot be attempted if management perceives it as a quick fix, or a tool to improve worker performance. Elements of Total Quality Management For TQM to be the driving force behind leadership, design, planning and improvement initiatives, it " ll require the help of eight key elements. According to Padh i, these eight key elements can be divided into four groups according to their function. Group I: Foundation TQM is built on a foundation of ethics, integrity and trust.

It fosters openness, fairness and sincerity and allows involvement by everyone. This is the key to unlocking the ultimate potential of TQM. These three elements move together, however, each element offers something different to the TQM concept. Ethics is the discipline concerned with good and bad in any situation.

It is a two-sided subject represented by organizational and individual ethics. Organizational ethics establish a business code of ethics that outlines guidelines that all employees are to adhere to in the performance of their work. Individual ethics include personal rights or wrongs. Integrity implies honesty, morals, values, fairness, and adherence to the facts and sincerity.

The characteristic is what customers (internal or external) expect and deserve to receive. People see the opposite of integrity as duplicity. TQM will not work in an atmosphere of duplicity. Trust is a by-product of integrity and ethical conduct. Without trust, the framework of TQM cannot be built. Trust fosters full participation of all members.

It allows empowerment that encourages pride ownership and it encourages commitment. It allows decision making at appropriate levels in the organization, fosters individual risk-taking for continuous improvement and helps to ensure that measurements focus on improvement of process and are not used to content people. Trust is essential to ensure customer satisfaction. So, trust builds the cooperative environment for TQM. Group II: Bricks Based on the strong foundation of trust, ethics and integrity, bricks are placed to reach the roof of recognition. Training is very important for employees to be highly productive.

Supervisors are solely responsible for implementing TQM within their departments, and teaching their employees the philosophies of TQM. Training that employees require are interpersonal skills, the ability to function within teams, problem solving, decision making, job management performance analysis and improvement, business economics and technical skills. During the creation and formation of TQM, employees are trained so that they can become effective employees for the company. To become successful in business, teamwork is also a key element of TQM. With the use of teams, the business will receive quicker and better solutions to problems. Teams also provide more permanent improvements in processes and operations.

In teams, people feel more comfortable bringing up problems that may occur, and can get help from other workers to find a solution and put into place. Leadership is possibly the most important element in TQM. It appears everywhere in an organization. Leadership in TQM requires the manager to provide an inspiring vision, make strategic directions that are understood by all and to instill values that guide subordinates.

For TQM to be successful in the business, the supervisor must be committed in leading his employees. A supervisor must understand TQM, believe in it and then demonstrate their belief and commitment through their daily practices of TQM. The supervisor makes sure that strategies, philosophies, values and goals are transmitted down throughout the organization to provide focus, clarity and direction. A key point is that TQM has to be introduced and led by top management. Commitment and personal involvement is required from top management in creating and deploying well defined systems, methods and performance measure for achieving those goals. Group : Binding Mortar Communication binds everything together and acts as a vital link between all elements of TQM.

Communication means a common understanding of ideas between the sender and the receiver. The success of TQM demands communication with and among all the organization members, suppliers and customers. Supervisors must keep open airways where employees can send and receive information about the TQM process. Communication coupled with the sharing of correct information is vital. For communication to be credible the message must be clear and receiver must interpret in the way the sender intended. There are different ways of communication such as downward communication.

This is the dominant form of communication in an organization. Presentations and discussions basically do it. By this, the supervisors are able to make the employees clear about TQM. Upward communication is where the lower level of employees is able to provide suggestions to upper management of the affects of TQM. As employees provide insight and constructive criticism, supervisors must listen effectively to correct the situation that comes about through the use of TQM. This forms a level of trust between supervisors and employees.

This is also similar to empowering communication, where supervisors keep open ears and listen to others. Sideways communication is important because it breaks down barriers between departments. It also allows dealing with customers and suppliers in a more professional manner. Group IV: Roof Recognition is the last and final element in the entire system. It should be provided for both suggestions and achievements for teams as well as individuals. Employees strive to receive recognition for themselves and their teams.

Detecting and recognizing contributors is the most important job of a supervisor. As people are recognized, there can be huge changes in self-esteem, productivity, quality and the amount of effort exhorted to the task at hand. Recognition comes in its best form when it is immediately following an action that an employee has performed. Recognition comes in different ways, places and time such as a personal letter from top management, or by award banquets, plaques and trophies.

Good performers can be recognized in front of departments, on performance boards and also in front of top management. Recognition can also be given at any time. Quality Tools and Techniques Tools and techniques are used to identify problems and to identify and implement solutions within an organization or a department. They can be used with minimal training by staff at all levels and help to provide a more focused examination of quality issues. Cause and effect The cause and effect diagram is also called the fishbone chart because of its appearance and the Isha kowa chart after the man who popularized its use in Japan. Its most frequent use is to list the cause of particular problems.

Cause and effect diagrams allow a team to identify, explore and graphically display, in increasing detail, all of the possible causes related to a problem or condition to discover its root cause (s). The diagram is generally drawn up by a group of people who are involved in the process being examined. This method is guided by a facilitator who ensures that everyone can contribute to the discussion. Flowcharts Flowcharts are diagrammatic representations of processes. They can be constructed using a very small number of symbols. Flowcharts allow a team to identify the actual flow or sequence of events in a process that any product or service follows.

Flowcharts can be applied to anything from the travels of an invoice or the flow of materials, to the steps in making a sale or servicing a product. Though producing flowcharts is time consuming there are a number of benefits to using them. The interaction between activities becomes much clearer using a flowchart than looking at a text-based description. It is much easier to identify duplication of effort, and work that does not add to the value of the process.

Gantt Charts A Gantt chart is a useful method of planning and monitoring a project. It shows the progress of each element of a project on a separate line, plotted against the estimated or actual time for each element. The elements can run consecutively, or in parallel. Gantt charts show the likely overall timescale for projects and, by updating them regularly, it is possible to highlight any potential problems that could alter the completion date. The chart should be updated regularly, using different colors or shading to show completed, current and pending elements of the project and altering timescales where appropriate. Histograms A histogram is used to demonstrate the variation in a set of data.

It shows the frequency with which particular values occur and is a tool that helps identify the cause of problems in a process by the shape of the distribution as well as the width of the distribution. A histogram summarizes data from a process that has been collected over a period of time, and graphically presents its frequency distribution in bar form. Pareto Analysis Pareto was an Italian economist who realized that 85% of the country's wealth was in the hands of 15% of the people. This basic principle, sometimes called the 80/20 rule, appeared to be applicable to vast numbers of numerical facts. The Pareto shows the distribution of items and arranges them from the most frequent to the least frequent with the final bar being miscellaneous. This tool is a graphical picture of the most frequent causes of a particular problem.

It shows where to put the organization's initial effort to get the most gain. Simply stated, the Pareto assists an organization to focus efforts on the problems that offer the greatest potential for improvement by showing their relative frequency or size in a descending bar graph. Conclusion Total Quality Management is regarded as a key success factor in maintaining a competitive advantage. The belief is to do everything right from the first time in an open management culture. It enables an organization to consolidate and to strengthen their position as a world class company. A TQM movement cannot succeed unless employees are involved in the various businesses processed in an organization.

The evidence of the correlation between successful TQM programs and competitive advantage is growing. TQM tools and techniques, properly implemented, have the power to create sustainable competitive advantage. 1. Harris, Beverly (1995) TQM - The Hands-On Experience. United Kingdom: Stanley Torres (Publishers) Ltd. 2.

Morehouse, Debra L. (1996) Essentials of TQM. Great Britain: Biddle's Ltd, Guildford 3. web 4. web 5. web.