Trace TQM Orientation & Application in various

National Setup
Outline the Quality movement in Japan The Success
Story from Poor Quality manufacture to World Leaders
Japanese Quality Control Circle Movement for
Enterprise-wide Quality Control Mechanism
Characteristic Quality Control Features in American
Quality management System
TQM Practices in European Countries
Quality problems in Developing Nations
Convergence of Varying Notes & Analyse Patterns in
TQM Practices
Current Overview of TQM Applications in Services
Sectors.

 Much

of the Business success, over the Past

Decade has been Predominantly driven by TQM,
JIT, CIMS and the like. TQM has played a
Pivotal role in shaping and influencing business
success. Effective adoption and diffusion of
TQM in Organisations has, therefore, become an
important Managerial concern.
Therefore it is intended to Highlight how TQM
has been adopted and Diffused in various
Different Set-ups in different parts of the globe.

Japan has come a Long Way from Poor Quality

Manufacturer (1940s), to Leading Quality
Manufacturer
It is because of the Scientific Planning, Quality
Orientation & Commitment at all Levels
Prior to World War II, Japan was in Export Business
with Mass Production of Low Quality Consumer
Goods, but the war Shattered their Economy
Thereafter, it Emerges as a Major Industrial Power
with the able Leadership, where Quality becomes a
world-wide Bench-mark for Japanese Product.

The efforts to study the Quality Control in Japan was started

in 1949 by the Union of Japanese Scientists & Engineers
(JUSE) to provide educational programs to the Firms
By studying the Foreign Practices through exchange programs
& sharing of Experience, the Group of Top Managers, Quality
Managers, Professors, Specialists & Technical Personnel
become aware of the various Quality Aspects
Through Statistical Quality Control magazine JUSE brought
up the Quality Revolution with statistical methods &
techniques
Demings Prize for quality in 1951, brought up Quality
Consciousness in the Japanese Firms
Dr. J.M.Jurans Lecturer on Planning & Practice in Quality
Management preached Quality begins from Design & ends at
Customer Satisfaction
The concept of Total Quality for Company's success is used
thereon

By the lunching of Quality Control Movement &

promoted by Industrial Management Arena in Japan
from 1955-60 Years of TQC was prevailed by
implementing Company-wide-quality control practices
It started with the progress of Inspection Oriented
Quality Assurance, to Production Process, Control
Oriented Quality Assurance finally to New Product
Development Oriented Quality Assurance
Quality Control Standards in Japanese firms are now
very Stringent with a large number of companies
reporting under 5% defect rate and quite a few firms
exhibiting - 1% defect rate. The emphasis is on Zero
defect Programme

In April 1962, a Japanese magazine Gemba-To-QC (Quality Control

for the Foreman or FQC) paved the way to Q-C circle activities. The
publications editorial committee established the following goals:
1. It must be directed towards the first-time supervisors &
foremen;
2. It must educate, train & advocate the use of Q.C. Techniques;
3. It must aid in the organisation of a group called Q-C circle at a
workshop level;
4. It must encourage foremen to subscribe to the magazine on their
own account.
The concept of QC Circle is adopted, because of the Compulsion of
Circumstances prevailing and through the Peer Groups (mini circles)
in different Functional Areas like Productivity, Efficiency, Cost
Effectiveness, Jigs & Tools, Design of Products & Processes,
Facilities Planning, Production Control and Productivity. Today,
there are more than 1 Million circles operating in Japan.
QC concept is further extended to include Joint QC between different
Functional Areas.

Japan is a Country of Small Islands with limited

Natural Resources
Most of the Raw Materials Imported, and for the
Growth & Survival of Industries, Export has to be
Promoted in a big way
This leads to emphasis on Quality to compete in the
World Market
This was achieved by adopting a 6 Point
programme including Quality audits, Promotion for
Good quality, Quality trainings, Use of Statistical
methods, Control activities and Quality circles etc.

Japan's success is characterised by Small-lot production, Justin-time Purchasing, Extensive Preventive Maintenance
programs, Automated Equipment & Robots, together with
Worker Involvement and Responsibility. These together
constitutes some of the Ingredients of TQM
Considerations in implementing QC programmes needs Top
Management involvement, Emphasis on Training, Building a
Formal Organisation, use of In-Formal QC Circles and giving
Rewards
Company-wide-quality-control,
is
emphasised
on
participation by and cooperation of all members including
Owners, Managers, Supervisors & Operators covering
activities like Market Research, R&D, Production Planning,
Designing, Production Preparations, Purchasing & SubContracting, Manufacturing, Inspection, Sales and After sales
services as well as Personnel and Education

The core Quality activities involve:

Activities targeted towards the customer in realising the
product performance, reliability, safety, usage, economy,
servicing and the like that customers demand
Activities for rationally and economically realising through
utilisation of statistical and other scientific approaches
Activities are not only implemented by the manufacturing
division such as production and inspection alone but also by
all the individual divisions ranging from surveying through
planning, developing and production to sales for resolution of
quality assurance problems etc.
Participation of staffs all the way advances properly through
the leadership rather than handful of persons
The Japanese approach specifically requires Total Involvement
of people for QC. The western approach for QC is heavily
committed to the Establishment of sophisticated systems, plans
& procedures and Inspection
The Japanese rely Far more upon the development, training and
Involvement of its people

USA is on Crossroads, regarding Quality today. Inspite of the Fact

that the Latest Techniques & concepts of SQC and TQC still the
Japanese concepts QC Circles and Company-Wide QC in
Synchronisation with Orientation & Development in Philosophy
goes much Faster and Rapid success in Implementation
American companies remain concerned in Detecting & Segregating
the Defecting ones from the Good ones while the Japanese
companies devised systems to reduce Defects and Produce Good
quality Products
This resulted in America losing its position of dominance not only
in American Market but also in the World
Much of the Quality Movement Tools & techniques used in USA
are developed in Japan which requires complete re-development in
both Methods and Emphasis
The most critical challenge in US Quality Movement is the
development and implementation of Quality Focussed Corporate
Management Systems that achieve the Coherence, Integration &
Comprehensiveness of Quality Management in Japan (Easton, 1993)

The American companies are Characterised by A high concentration of Industry in relatively few Companies
Stress on Promoting Share-Holders and
Running the Companies by Professional Managers

Marguardt (1988) divides the Evolution of Quality

Movement in USA in 3 Periods
Advocates for SQC Emphasis on Technical Tools of
Control charts, Lot Inspection and Sampling Schemes
2. Administrators for systems of Quality Control Emphasis
on the Cost of Quality & Managerial Aspects of Organising
the Quality
3. Advertising & selling Quality Consciousness Emphasis on
changing organisational culture & providing an Environment
that will enable people to activate and sustain Quality in their
own work and in products & services produced by the
organisation with the focus on needs of customers
1.

Initially the American industries followed the European

traditions of relying on the foremen & Workmen for
ensuring Quality. However, as the industries expanded &
Automation increased, the American industries embraced
the Taylor system of Scientific management
The Taylor system Primarily aimed at improving
Productivity by separating Manufacturing Planning &
Execution
This required, for Quality Function, the responsibility for
quality to be delegated to inspectors who are organised in to
a central inspection department
Taylor System extends the Quality improvement effort by
forming the separate staff specialists as Quality Engineers,
who are strongly oriented to the Quality Function, and
played a crucial role in distributing latest Techniques
demanded by the emerging quality functions

The American Quality Improvement efforts are

characterised by
A professional approach to management
Continuous training of managers & specialists
High investment in precise machinery tools, measuring

instruments & technology to improve quality

Research to understand the needs of the market and
Emphasis on increasing the production capacity to avoid
shortage of goods

The inherent drawback associated with it, affected the

performance of industries in Quality Matters. This
restricts the person only to the performance of Physical
tasks
This is proved beneficial in Mass Production, but even
now is not a wholly inefficient system of management

Easton (1993), based on his experience as a member of the board

of examiners of the Malcom Bridge National Quality Awards,
critically assesses the current state of TQM in USA. He outlines
the approaches of US Companies which limits realisation of
TQMs full potential in United states as:
The scope of the concept of process in TQM is not fully
understood by most managers. This lack of understanding of
process is related to the persistent result oriented perspective
of most managers
Lack of effective management by fact
The primary focus of the quality effort is one of the workforce
because of which roles for all levels of management and
technical staff are not developed
He, therefore, feels that TQM in the US is far from mature and
needs continuous development, refinement and expansion in
order to realise and maintain competitive advantage

During Industrialisation Era, European countries are considered

as the Front runners in Quality of manufactured products. Each
nation claims specialisation in one product.
This leadership is due to the advances in technology, European
industries are in the fore front in developing new products,
processes, measuring instruments and were among the leaders in
adopting national & international standardisation of
methodology, materials and tests.
Despite extensive national & industrial differences, the European
industries are characterised by:
High degree of autonomy
Closely held ownership
Practice of modern management techniques
Wide application of government regulations to quality with
particular emphasis on health and safety
Significant contributions of Dale, Oakland and the emergence of
single European market, the scenario is changing rapidly and
more and more organisations embracing TQM Technology

Lampocht (1993) outlines Quality movement in French

industry. He states the characteristic features of French
Factories as:

Overly centralised decision making

Managements unwillingness to delegate authority
Paternalistic attitude towards workers
Resistance to change
A general reliance on technical specialists rather than operators to
solve machine or operation related problems

In France, the biggest potential market for quality

improvement is in service industry as French do not believe
that:

Excellent customer service is valuable

Service is an important investment
Quality is primarily managements responsibility
A customer is already a customer before buying anything
For service to be of good quality, everyone inside the company
must contribute to it

He further outlines the characteristic features of

European TQM efforts as:
Recognition of versatility of demands of customers

among the different European members

Technical expertise
Concern for product quality
Customer satisfaction as a major management objective
Effort to obtain ISO 9000 certification

Juran (1974) found that the Dutch government supports

the application of Total Quality Control in the
companies. A survey carried out by Baluw and During
(1990) in 98 Dutch industrial firms reveals that:
Few companies have documented the elements of their TQC

system
In quality policy & objectives, product characteristics such as
durability are emphasised more than costs
The evaluation of quality control systems are poor
Most firms have policies & procedures with respect to quality
control, but fewer et quality objectives
Design/development activities are often not based on market
analysis & product requirements
In purchasing, little attention is paid to examining suppliers
quality assurance and to establishing a list of qualified
suppliers

 In manufacturing, many companies fail to write down

inspection standards and process parameters

Companies often neglect preventive maintenance, instrument
calibration & materials and assembly tracking
Little attention is paid to determining the need for product, to
instructions for transport & storage, to after sales service, to
directions for use and to maintenance instruction
The factors which are considered most important for
stimulating & impeding the adoption of TQM are:
Quality recruitment of the customer/market place
The active support of top management for TQM
The existence of an executive who is responsible for the
implementation of TQC
The participation and enthusiasm of the employees
Significant positive effects of TQC

The Dutch companies must do something in the field of

quality control, but has to plan the activities. Such
attitude make it impossible to learn about quality
Planned communication strategy along with
commitment of management to quality is essential to
promote quality improvement
It can be concluded that in developed economies 5
Factors may be considered as important to successful
diffusion of TQM. These are The role of a quality champion in perpetuating a Total Quality

culture
Customers involvement in the product development process
Building a TQM strategic framework
Quality control efforts in the entire business chain
Educate-Educate and Educate

The term Poor Quality is synonymous with the products manufactured in

developing nations
The inferiority & lack of quality standards, technology, equipments,
instruments, consumer purchasing power, consumer education and quality
control know-how contribute towards poor performance of developing nations
in quality matters
Most of the organisations in the developing nations are oriented in wrong
directions as regards quality because of the following reasons
1. Sellers market scenario
2. Unorganised and indifferent customers
3. Ban on imports
4. Insufficient education, training, inadequate knowledge and technical know
know--how
5. Atmosphere of indifferent prevailing in most of the organisations
6. Lack of legal and political support
7. Lack of established quality standards & inadequate test facilities
8. Indifferent enforcing agencies
9. Historic belief that Quality costs Money
10. Consideration that the quality is an optional extra & not a necessary for living
11. Total lack of management commitment
12. Lack of communication & trust between suppliers, dealers, management &
trade unions

However, in the modern changing scenario with a liberalised

import-export policies, greater awareness amongst customers &
increased competition posed by MNCs, thf growing marketse firms
are making efforts to adopt TQM and bring their products to
international standards, so that they can not only survive but also
take the advantage of growing markets
However, these efforts face a lot of obstacles such as

Inadequate knowledge information about TQM

Failure of management to maintain its commitment over a long period of

time
Doubts in minds of employees about intentions of management
People considering TQM as another bandwagon
Difficulties in measuring TQM effectiveness
Resistance to change at different levels
Insufficient education and training resources
Lack of awareness amongst customers & difficulty in assessing customer
expectation & satisfaction
Poor internal communication

A systematic planned approach through training & education

therefore is required to meet this challenge

Element

Developed Nations

Developing Nations

Manufacturing
Focus

Process

Product

Product Objectives

Quality / Utility

Cost Related Performance

Business Focus

Market Share / Customer

satisfaction

Profitability

Risk / Reward

Learn from Failure

Punish Failures

Employee Attitude

Team Building Cooperation

Individual Leg Pulling

Market Training

On a Large Market

On a Narrow Market

Man-power Training

Company Training across a

variety of Task, High investment in
Human Capital

Training Primarily by outside

Institutions, Low investment in
Human Capital

Methods

Quantative, SQC & Work

increases Responsibility for Quality

Role specialisation with specialists

responsible for discrete functions
such as quality

Motivation

Rewards linked to Company

Performance, all employees in
the same boat

Short-term Incentives for Workers

Abc