Quality Management

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 Total Quality Management Principles

Total quality management can be summarized as a management

system for a customer-focused organization that involves all employees
in continual improvement. It uses strategy, data, and effective
communications to integrate the quality discipline into the culture and
activities of the organization. Total Quality Management consist a set of
core values and principles on which the organization is to operate.
 Total Quality Management Principles
Total quality management is the continuous management of quality
that includes all aspects of an organization. It stems from the belief that
mistakes can be avoided and defects can be prevented. It leads to
continuously improving results, in all aspects of work, as a result of
continuously improving capabilities, people, processes, and technology
and machine capabilities.
A central principle of total quality management is that mistakes may be
made by people are due to faulty systems and processes. This means
that the root cause of such mistakes can be identified and eliminated,
and repetition can be prevented by changing the process.
 The main principles of total quality management are:

1. Delighting the customer. The term delight means bring the best of
what really matters to the customers
2. All the decisions relating to quality will be based on facts to ensure
that the quality decisions are meaningful
3. Continuous improvement in quality and for quality monitoring
4. Customer focused organization
5. Involvement of employees
 The main principles of total quality management are:

6. TQM is supported by quality system

7. TQM is quality team work with team accountability
8. TQM is quality corporate culture
9. TQM focuses the need for strategic quality planning
10. TQM is led by senior quality managers with strong leadership to
establish credibility.
 Some of the operational principles of
TQM:
1. Universal Quality Responsibility:

2. Quality Measurement:
Under TQM, quality is recognised as a measurable commodity, and in order to
improve, we need to know where we are (i.e., what the current quality levels are),
and we need to have some idea where we are going (i.e., what quality levels we
aspire to achieve). Statistical methods are used to support quality efforts in
process-simplification and product-design variation.

3. Inventory Reduction: Inventory reduction leads to –

a. Cost reduction, and
b. Quality improvement. This management philosophy is called Just-in-Time (JIT)
inventory management.
 the operational principles of TQM:
.4 Value Improvement

The essence of value improvement is the ability to meet or exceed customer

expectations while removing unnecessary costs. The philosophy is one of “Cost
Management” and not merely “Cost Containment”.

.5 Supplier Teaming:
Developing long-term relationships with a few high-quality suppliers, rather than
simply selecting those suppliers with the lowest initial cost is termed as supplier
teaming. This will ensure quality at the source level, i.e., at the raw materials /
component procurement stage.
 The operational principles of TQM:
6. Training:
Training is one of the pre-requisites to ensure –
a. Employee Involvement,
b. Employee Empowerment, and
c. Continuous Improvement.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is an operational philosophy
committed to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. TQM
is committed to quality/excellence and to being the best in all
functions. Because TQM aims to reduce costs and improve quality, it
can be used as a program to implement an overall low-cost or a
differentiation business strategy. About 92% of manufacturing
companies and 69% of service firms have implemented some form of
quality management practices.
 Main principles of TQM are as follows:
(i) Quality can and must be managed.
(ii) Everyone has a customer and is a supplier.
(iii) Processes, not people are the problem.
(iv) Every employee is responsible for quality.
(v) Problems must be prevented, not just fixed,
(vi) Quality must be measured.
(vii) Quality improvements must be continuous.
(viii)The quality standard is defect free.
(ix) Goals are based on requirements, not negotiated.
(x) Life cycle costs, not front end costs.
(xi) Management must be involved and lead.
(xii) Plan and organize for quality improvement
Total Quality Management Principles – 10 Important Principles Guiding
TQM Philosophy: Commitment, Culture, Continuous Improvement, Co-
Operation and a Few Others Various principles that guide the total quality
management philosophy are as follows:
Principle # 1. Commitment:
If a TQM culture is to be developed, total commitment must come from
top management. It is not sufficient to delegate ‘quality’ issues to a single
person or department. Quality expectations must be made clear by the
top management, together with the support and training required for its
achievement.
Principle # 2. Culture:
Training lies at the centre of effecting a change in culture and
attitudes. Negative perceptions must be changed to encourage
individual contributions and to make ‘quality consciousness’ a
normal part of everyone’s job.
• Principle # 3. Continuous Improvement:
• TQM should be recognised as a ‘continuous process’. It is not a ‘one-
time programme’ Continuous improvement refers to both
“incremental” improvement, as well as “breakthrough” improvement.
Improvement may be of various types, like –
• a. Providing more value to the customer through new and improved
products and services,
• b. Identifying new business opportunities,
• c. Reducing errors, defects, inefficiencies and wastes,
• d. Improving responsiveness and cycle time performance, and
• e. Improving productivity and effectiveness in the utilization of
resources.
• Principle # 4. Co-Operation:
• Employee involvement and co-operation should be sought in the
development of improvement strategies and associated performance
measures. TQM visualises –
• a. Employee Involvement – This means that every employee is involved in
running the business and plays an active role in helping the firm meet its
goals.
• b. Employee Empowerment – This means that employees and
management recognize that there are many obstacles in achieving
organizational goals and can be overcome by employees who are provided
with the necessary tools and authority to do so.
• Principle # 5. Focus of Customer:
• The needs of external customers (in receipt of the final product or service)
and also the internal customers (colleagues who receive and supply goods,
services or information), should be the prime focus
Principle # 6. Control:
Documentation, procedures and awareness of current best practice are
essential if TQM implementations are to function appropriately. Unless
control procedures are in place, improvements cannot be monitored
and measured nor deficiencies corrected.
Principle # 7. Cross-Functional:
TQM is a total system approach, and not a separate area or program. It
is an integral part of high-level strategy-making. It works horizontally
across functions and departments, involves all employees, and extends
backward and forward to include the supply chain and the customer
chain.
Principle # 8. Cause Analysis:
TQM seeks to design and build quality in the product, rather than allow defectives
and then inspect and rectify them. The focus is on the causes rather than the
symptoms of poor quality. This is done by identifying the root causes of the
problems, and by implementing corrective actions that address problems at the
root cause level.
Principle # 9. Change:
TQM stresses learning and adaptation to continual change as keys to
organizational success. Improvement and learning should be a regular part of daily
work. The objective is to eliminate problems at their source itself, and be driven by
opportunities to do better, as well as by problems that need to be corrected. This
requires a “learning” attitude, i.e., adaptation to change, leading to new goals or
approaches.
Principle # 10. Concept of Teams:
Taking advantage of the synergy of teams is an effective way to address the
problems and challenges of continuous improvement.
 Total Quality Management Principles
– Fundamental Principles of TQM
• TQM principles can be better explained by examining those
companies which have been successful. Some India companies which
have won the Golden Peacock National Quality Awards from Quality
Council of India (QCI) and Institute of Director (IOD) are Telco, Philips,
Bharat Electronics, Kirloskar, SAIL and EIL.
• On examining companies like Malcolm Baldrige Award winners in the
USA like Motorola the Deming Prize winners like Toyota; and the
European Quality Award winners like Corning, we find that the
following fundamentals of TQM are common in each of these award
winning international companies
1. Putting the Customer First:
Achieving customer satisfaction is at the heart of total quality
management. This principle supports the traditional view that the
“customer is king”. If a company cannot satisfy its customers, another
accompany will. Processes and products must be designed with one
thing in mind-satisfying the customer.
2. Management by Fact:
The second principle which TQM companies world over are adopting
these days is management by fact. This principles is difficult to
institutionalize because every employee in an organization has
opinions, views and notions about how things should be done.
3. Focus on Prevention:
Indian Companies like Telco, Philips, etc., which have mastered TQM
realized that solving problems is the first step in making improvement.
These Indian companies realized that until methods are instituted to
prevent the recurrence of problems, long-lasting results cannot be
achieved.
4. Principle of Cross-Functional Management:
Cross-functional management recognize that no organizational unit can
by itself control every aspect of the business operation to ensure that
the customer’s requirements are met. Cross- functional management is
a method of cooperat­ing across functional organizational boundaries-
interacting with each other to make sure that the product or service
meets the quality standards that are set.
5. Principle of Employee Involvement:
Sur­rounding the above four fundamental principles are two others that
relate to how people should work together. Sometimes, this principle is
re­ferred to as respect for people. In some Indian business organizations
still the workers and em­ployees are treated as persons with brawn only
and not with brain. This was the traditional way of exploiting the
workers.
6. Principle of PDCA Cycle:
The plan-do-check- act (PDCA) principle is another essential tool for
implementing a TQM programme success­fully in Indian organizations.
The PDCA also re­ferred to as the “Deming Wheel” is the principle of
continuous improvement. Most Indian com­panies do not have practices
in place that force continuous improvement
 The main principles that underlie TQM are summarized below:
i. Prevention – Prevention is better than cure. In the long run, it is cheaper to
stop product defects than trying to find them.
ii. Zero defects – The ultimate aim is no (zero) defects – or exceptionally low
defect levels if a product or service is complicated.
iii. Getting things right first time – Better not to produce at all than produce
something defective.
iv. Quality involves everyone – Quality is not just the concern of the
production or operations department – it involves everyone, including
marketing, finance and human resource departments.
v. Continuous improvement – Businesses should always be looking for ways
to improve processes to improve quality.
vi. Employee involvement – Those involved in production and operations
have a vital role to play in spotting improvement opportunities for quality and
identifying quality problems.