Total Quality Management

Definition and Dimensions of Quality

Quality: 

-  It is a lot more than the nonexistence of defects which allow companies to meet customer expectations.   Going
beyond customers expectations guarantees meeting all the definitions of quality.

-  Quality can only be observed through the eyes of the customers, where different people understand quality in a
different manner 

-  It describes management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction.

-  It involves everyone in the organization and it encompasses its every function, administration, communication,
distribution, manufacturing, marketing, planning, and training.

Total Quality Management:

-  It is an all-inclusive and well thought-out means to organizational management that searches to advance the quality of
processes, products, services and culture through continuing minor changes in activities concerning managers and
workers alike in an organization in a completely integrated effort toward improving performance at all level.

Dimensions of Quality: Product

1.  Performance - can be assessed through measurement of physical products, statistical sampling of the output of
process or through survey of purchasers of goods and services.  It refers to a product's primary operating
characteristics.  

2.  Features -  are the "bells and whistles" of products and services, those characteristics that supplement their basic
functioning and enhance the appeal of the products and services to the user.

3.  Reliability -  reflects the probability of the product malfunctioning or failing within the specified time period.

4.  Conformance -  it is the degree to which a product's design and operating characteristics meet established standards.

5.  Durability -  it is the amount of use one gets from a product before it deteriorates.

6.  Serviceability -  this refers to the speed, courtesy, competence, and ease of repair.  Consumers are concerned not
only about a product breaking down but also the time before service is restored, the timeliness with which the service
appointments are kept, the nature of dealings with service personnel, and the frequency with which service calls or
repairs fail to correct outstanding problems.

7.  Aesthetics -  it refers to how a product looks, feels, sounds, tastes, or smells--is clearly a matter of personal judgment
and reflection of individual preference.

8.  Safety -  it is the condition of being protected from harm or other non-desirable outcomes.

9.  Perceived Quality -  It refers to how consumer perceives the products and services they received.  Consumers do not
always have complete information about a product's or service's attributes; indirect measures may be their only basis
for comparing brands.

Services:

1.  Timeliness / Responsiveness - willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.

2.  Completeness

3.  Courtesy
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4.  Consistency/Assurance - ability to convey trust and confidence, and demonstrate knowledge and confidence 

5.  Accessibility and convenience

6.  Accuracy

Key Elements of Total Quality

Key Elements of Total Quality

1.  Strategically Focused 6. Teamwork

2.  Customer Focused 7. Continual Process Improvement

3.  Obsession with Quality 8- Education and Training

4.  Scientific Approach 9. Freedom through Control

5.  Long-term Commitment 10. Unity of Purpose

Core Concepts of TQM

1.  Customer Satisfaction -   TQM is centered on the requirements of the customer.  In order to meet customer
requirements, it is imperative to listen to them and do what is agreed upon.

2.  Internal customer Satisfaction -  The are the persons within the company who receive the work of another and add
his contribution to the product or service before passing it on to someone else.

3.  All work is process - The process is a combination of methods, materials, manpower, and machines that work
collectively to produce a product or service.  All processes include natural variability and one approach to quality
improvements is to progressively reduce variation.  First, this can be done by removing variation due to special causes
and secondly by driving down the common cause of variation, thus bringing the process under control and improving the
capability.

4.  Measurement - In order to improve, one must first measure one's present performance.  This will help one focus
both on satisfying internal customers and meeting the requirements of external customers.   These are the 7 generic
ways in which the quality of outputs can be measured: defects - work not up to specification, rework - work requiring
correction, scrap -  work thrown away, lost items -  work done again, backlogs  -  work behind schedule, late deliveries -
work after agreed time, and surplus items - work not required.

5,  Synergy in teamwork -  The idea of synergy in teamwork, where the whole is greater than the sum of parts, is a key
concept of TQM.  Here, it is used to promote collaboration, consensus, "creative conflict" and team winning.  One of the
strengths of using teams for TQM is that they can merge the mutually restricted individual qualities needed for running
business today.  Teamwork can provide opportunities for people to work together to reach quality improvement.

6.  People make quality -   Most of the quality problems within an organization are not usually within the control of an
individual employee.  the system often comes in the way of employees who are trying to do a good job.  In such a
situation, motivation by itself cannot work.  Therefore managers are required to ensure that all necessary is prepared to
let people to produce quality.  This creates an environment where people are eager to take responsibility for the quality
of their own work.  Releasing the talents of everyone within the organization in this way can generate a culture for
quality improvement.

7.  Continuous improvement cycle -  The continuous cycle of instituting customer requirements, meeting and measuring
them, measuring success and continuing the improvement can be used both externally and internally to stimulate
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quality improvements.   The continuous improvement cycle used over and over again will lead to a fresh "chemistry"
within the organization so that the culture starts to change to one of continuous improvement.

8.  Prevention -  At the heart of TQM is the conviction that it is possible to achieve defect-free work most of the time.  
This is termed "right first time, every time" or zero defects.  This policy is the results of an emphasis on prevention, and
the diligent use of measurement, process controls and the data-driven elimination of waste and error.   Through planned
and systematic action such as documentation of work processes or cost of quality audits, quality assurance prevents
quality problems.

Benefits of TQM
1.  Creates a good corporate culture -  TQM is an approach where the customer is the center point of the business
rather than the department.  Therefore, quality is transformed from an issue of the production department to a
strategic business entity to meet global challenges.  The TQM philosophy revolves around developing a culture that
supports total commitment t customer satisfaction through continuous improvement.

2.  Better reviews from customers -  Given the quality assurance testing procedures, the products of the company will
constantly meet the requirements and needs of clients and customers.  Therefore, the customers stay with the company
longer, deepen their relationship with the company nd demonstrate less price sensitivity and recommending the
company's products or services to others.

3.  Better performance from employees -  Through TQM, there is often more attention placed on meeting the needs of
the employees or internal customers.  The training given to the employees as part of the program can boost employee
morale at the workplace resulting in employees working harder to achieve the goals of TQM.

Traditional Management vs. TQM

1.  Traditional way of management focused on internal activities; total quality management focused on customer.

2.  Traditional people thought bad quality products are due to the workers who do not perform their job properly; TQM
set responsibility of the quality goes into the middle level management in the operational level.

3. TQM, unlike traditional management calls for high amount of team working.

4.  TQM believes in quality assurance rather than checking.

5.  Unlike in traditional management style, TQM makes decisions on facts and figures.

6.  TQM depends on cyclic thinking.  Also it is continuous.  Therefore improvements are small, stable and continuous in
nature.

TQM and Reengineering

Reengineering sometimes called Business process Reengineering (BPR), involves a complete rethinking and
transformation of key business processes, leading to strong horizontal coordination and greater flexibility in responding
to changes in environment. Reengineering is a subset of TQM.  Reengineering aims at quantum gains on the order of
30% to 50% or more, whereas TQM programs stress incremental progress, striving for inch-by-inch gains again and
again. TQM is the way in achieving the objective of "total quality".  The techniques used for continuous improvement
and process reengineering are the tools of TQM.

              In Japan, continuous improvement is referred to as Kaizen.  It means continuous improvement involving

everyone, both managers and workers.  
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 Reengineering vs. TQM

TQM
             Reengineering

Similarities

Basis of analysis Processes Processes

Performance measurement Rigorous Rigorous

Organizational change Significant Significant

Behavioral change Significant Significant

Time Investment Substantial Substantial

Differences

Level of change Radical Incremental

Starting point Clean slate Existing process

Participation Top-down Bottom-up

Typical scope Broad, cross-functional Narrow, within functions

Risk High Moderate

Primary enabler Information technology Statistical control

Type of change Cultural and structural Cultural