Producing quality work (the first time) means quality is built into the processes for

producing products or providing services, and continual improvement measures are taken
to ensure the processes work every time. Employees are empowered to make decisions to
improve a process and are provided with continual training to develop their skills.
The purchasing department at Fun Time Travel evaluates data on client purchases to
determine which packages are most popular with clients. This helps them to determine
what stays and what goes. The information technology technicians monitor the website
continually to assess whether clients are just browsing or actually making purchases. The
IT guys also evaluate how long a booking takes to determine whether changes need to be
made to the check-out process.
Focusing on the customer involves designing products or services that meet or exceed the
customer's expectations. This involves the product itself, its functionality, attributes,
convenience and even the means by which the information about a product is received by a
client.
The marketing department is responsible to get the cyber-word out to potential clients.
Marketers use a wide variety of media sources, like social networking, email and even
texting, to get the word out about Fun Time's website. If they notice traffic is not moving
toward the website or that clients are not staying online long enough, they will make strong
suggestions to the IT department and the research and development department to make
changes immediately.
By having a strategic approach to improvement, processes are developed and tested to
ensure the product or service's quality. This also involves making sure suppliers offer
quality supplies needed to produce products.
The purchasing department monitors client reviews to determine whether the ratings on the
website are similar to those of actual past customers. This makes it possible for purchasing
to add more travel packages to the company's inventory.
Improving continuously means always analyzing the way work is being performed to
determine if more effective or efficient ways are possible, making improvements and striving
for excellence all the time.
The human resources department is interested in making sure employees are qualified to
perform their jobs. By having qualified and trained employees on the team, the website will
run effectively. Calls to the travel desk will be handled efficiently. Any interruption to the
booking process will be quickly fixed, and improvements will be made.
Encouraging mutual respect and teamwork is important because it fosters a singleorganizational culture of excellence by knowing that every employee from top to bottom of
the hierarchy holds the same core principles at heart.
The entire team at Fun Time Travel work together to make viewing, planning and booking a
vacation on their website a pleasurable and easy experience. This requires an interdepartmental approach to TQM.

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.

Customer-focused. The customer ultimately determines the level of quality. No matter what an
organization does to foster quality improvementtraining employees, integrating quality into the
design process, upgrading computers or software, or buying new measuring toolsthe
customer determines whether the efforts were worthwhile.

Total employee involvement. All employees participate in working toward common goals.
Total employee commitment can only be obtained after fear has been driven from the
workplace, when empowerment has occurred, and management has provided the proper
environment. High-performance work systems integrate continuous improvement efforts with
normal business operations. Self-managed work teams are one form of empowerment.

Process-centered. A fundamental part of TQM is a focus on process thinking. A process is a

series of steps that take inputs from suppliers (internal or external) and transforms them into
outputs that are delivered to customers (again, either internal or external). The steps required to
carry out the process are defined, and performance measures are continuously monitored in
order to detect unexpected variation.

Integrated system. Although an organization may consist of many different functional

specialties often organized into vertically structured departments, it is the horizontal processes
interconnecting these functions that are the focus of TQM.
o

Micro-processes add up to larger processes, and all processes aggregate into the
business processes required for defining and implementing strategy. Everyone must
understand the vision, mission, and guiding principles as well as the quality policies,
objectives, and critical processes of the organization. Business performance must be
monitored and communicated continuously.

An integrated business system may be modeled after the Baldrige National Quality
Program criteria and/or incorporate the ISO 9000 standards. Every organization has
a unique work culture, and it is virtually impossible to achieve excellence in its
products and services unless a good quality culture has been fostered. Thus, an
integrated system connects business improvement elements in an attempt to
continually improve and exceed the expectations of customers, employees, and
other stakeholders.

Strategic and systematic approach. A critical part of the management of quality is the
strategic and systematic approach to achieving an organizations vision, mission, and goals.
This process, called strategic planning or strategic management, includes the formulation of a
strategic plan that integrates quality as a core component.

Continual improvement. A major thrust of TQM is continual process improvement. Continual

improvement drives an organization to be both analytical and creative in finding ways to
become more competitive and more effective at meeting stakeholder expectations.

Fact-based decision making. In order to know how well an organization is performing, data on
performance measures are necessary. TQM requires that an organization continually collect
and analyze data in order to improve decision making accuracy, achieve consensus, and allow
prediction based on past history.

Communications. During times of organizational change, as well as part of day-to-day

operation, effective communications plays a large part in maintaining morale and in motivating
employees at all levels. Communications involve strategies, method, and timeliness.

These elements are considered so essential to TQM that many organizations define them, in some format,
as a set of core values and principles on which the organization is to operate.
Excerpted from The Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence H