Total Quality Management (TQM) It was only in the 1940s that the quality movement took shape and

by 1970s and 1980s, quality was the new buzzword and "total quality management" came into being. As we saw in the previous session, there are as many definitions of quality as there are writers. The same is true of Total Quality Management (TQM). But the important thing to note is that however many definitions there may be, TQM is simply a way of managing to improve the effectiveness, flexibility and competitiveness of a business as a whole. It involves whole companies getting organized in every department, every activity and every single person, at every level. For an organization to be truly effective, every single part of it must work properly together because all activities are interdependent and every activity is affected by and affects other activities. TQM is the method of removing waste by involving everyone in improving the way things are done. What are the basic concepts or issues on which companies are graded or on which they can compete? The 3 basic issues are quality, price and delivery. Whatever the industry (manufacturing or service), each company aims to set standards in these 3 areas. All these 3 issue are also linked to each other. When quality improves, the cost of procedures to detect and to manage failures reduces. There are fewer errors and failures, so there is less time wasted on corrections. If there is better performance and quality in the company, it results in better chances of m eeting the users requirements and delivery dates. We have seen in the previous session that one of the definitions of quality was "conformance to user requirements" i.e. the ability of a supplier to meet the customers requirements. Let us broaden the sc ope of the words "supplier" and "customer". Let us consider suppliers and customers not only across companies but even within the same company. For example, the shopfloor needs some raw material for its manufacturing process. So a requisition is sent to the Stores and the Stores manager send the raw material (if available) to the shopfloor. In this case, the Stores manager is the supplier and the shopfloor is the customer. There exist such pairs of suppliers and customers in every department of an organization. An individual can be a supplier or a customer at different time of the day. So we can consider an organization to be built up of a number of quality chains that may be broken at any place by an individual or machine not meeting the requirements of the customers (internal as well as external). Since everyone in the organization is a part of some quality chain, quality is everybodys business. Even if one person fails to meet the requirements in one part of the chain, it will spread to other parts of the organization and create more problems and more failures. So it is important that quality is made the guiding spirit of each and every person in the organization. Total Quality Management can be seen as being divided into 4 major components. These components are: Commitment of the Chief Executive TQM starts from the top and if the top boss of a company accepts the responsibility for quality, then the lower levels also do so. This is the same as the concept of leading by example. If the employees see that the CEO is committed to quality and wants to improve it in the company, it will act as a motivator and the employees will also be committed to quality. TQM is concerned not with the external trappings of quality but with the internal commitment of the individual. TQM moves the focus of control from outside the individual to within, for making him accountable for his own performance and for getting him committed to attaining quality in a highly motivated manner. The CEO can propel the employees into moving in this direction by expecting much more out of them and asking them to challenge their own abilities. The famous writer, Somerset Maugham, has said " The funny thing about expecting the best is that very often you get it!". So if the CEO expects the best out of his employees and provides them with his own example, he is very likely to get highly motivated and committed employees.

Documentation TQM cannot be implemented without proper documentation. There have to be written procedures, clearly defined management responsibilities and work instructions that can be audited and reviewed to see what improvements were necessary. That is why a company that starts a TQM programme will first obtain its ISO certification. Statistical Process Control All processes can be measured by obtaining data about the performance of the process and then monitoring or controlling it. Statistical process control methods together with management commitment and good organization, provide objective means of controlling quality for any process in the organization. For TQM, control is not enough. What is required is that the process should be improved continually by reducing the variations. This can be done by studying all aspects of the process and searching for any possible improvement that might ensure that the job can be done better. Teamwork The time when one person could handle all the activities of a business is long gone. Todays businesses are so complex that they need a large team of employees to look after all the functions. This concept of teamwork to solve problems is an essential component of TQM. Teamwork is very important not only because the work is partitioned and shared but also because it builds up trust, improves communication and develops interdependence. Initially, there may have to be an investment in terms of time and effort in building teams and making them interact, but in the long run, the rewards will be commitment and involvement of the employees towards the organization.

The Quality Gurus In the 1940s, when quality started being taken seriously, a series of "quality gurus" came up who preached their own philosophies of quality. W Edwards Deming The first "quality guru" was W. Edward Deming. He rose to prominence mainly as a result of his work with quality improvement in the Japanese industry in the late 1940s and early 1950s. So the quality movement was born in Japan but slowly spread to the western world. It was Deming who insisted that the senior management should become actively involved in their companys quality improvement programmes. Deming put forward 14 Cardinal points that formed the basis for action by the top management. These 14 points are: Create consistency of purpose Adopt the new philosophy Cease dependence on inspection End awarding business on price Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service Institute training on the job Institute leadership Drive out fear Break down barriers between departments Eliminate slogans, exhortations and numerical targets Eliminate quotas or work standards and MBO or numerical goals Remove barriers that rob people of their right to pride of workmanship Institute a vigorous education and self improvement programme Put everyone in the company to work to accomplish the transformation

Deming was a student of statistics and his initial work was primarily statistical in nature. It was later extended considerably beyond statistical method and resulted in the introduction of the PDCA cycle i.e. Plan, Do, Check and Action cycle. This cycle is continuous and consists of the stages as follows: Plan plan a test or change Do Carry out the test or change, preferably on a small scale Check Observe the effects of the change or test Act act on what was learned from the observation

Joseph Juran Joseph Juran was another famous quality guru who also lectured in Japan in the mid-1950s. He is also the author of an extremely comprehensive Quality Control Handbook that was published as early as 1951. His philosophy was that quality planning was a part of the quality trilogy of quality planning, quality control and quality improvement. He also felt that the majority of quality problems are due to poor management. His contribution has also been a "Quality Road Map" to guide managers interested in improving the quality of a product or service. The Quality Road Map consists of the following steps: Identify who are the customers Determine the needs of those customers Translate those needs into our language Develop a product that can respond to those needs Optimize the product features so as to meet our needs as well as the customers needs Develop a process which is able to produce the product Optimize the process Prove that the process can produce the product under operating conditions Transfer the process to Operations

Philip Crosby Crosby is best known for his concepts of "Do it Right First Time Every Time" and "Zero Defects". Zero defects does not mean that people never make mistakes but that the company does not start out expecting them to make mistakes. Crosby has formulated a practical, common sense programme to implement quality improvement. The steps of this programme are: Establish management commitment Form the quality improvement team from representatives from each department Establish quality measurement throughout the company Evaluate the cost of quality Establish quality awareness by employees Instigate corrective action Establish an ad-hoc committee for the zero defects programme Supervisor/employee training Hold a zero defects day to establish the new attitude Employee goal setting should take place (usually on 30/60/90 day basis) Error cause removal should be set up to follow the collection of problems Establish recognition of those who meet goals or perform outstandingly (non-financial awards) Quality councils should meet regularly Do it all over again

Crosby also established 5 stages of maturity in Quality management. He says that the first stage is that of uncertainty when management ahs no knowledge of quality as a part of possible management tool, the second stage is awakening when management starts recognizing that quality management will help but

will not commit resources to it, the third stage is enlightenment when management decides to introduce a formal quality programme, the fourth stage is wisdom when management and organization reach the stage when permanent changes can be made and the fifth stage is certainty when quality management becomes a vital part of organizational management. Apart from these 3 gurus, there are a number of others like Armand Feigenbaum, Ishikawa, Taguchi, Shingo and Moller. Summary Quality management as a concept was born very early (in the 1950s) but it became popular and companies started taking it seriously only around the 1970s and 1980s. The concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) has 4 principles commitment by the senior management, statistical process control, documentation and teamwork. The important point about TQM that was different from earlier management concepts was the commitment of the Chief Executive and other senior managers. The philosophy was that the senior management should show their commitment to quality and then expect the same out of the employees. In the 1950s were also born the "quality gurus" who preached their own brands of quality management. The pioneer was W Edwards Deming and stalwarts like Juran, Crosby, Feigenbaum etc followed him.