Evolution of TQM

Evolution of TQM
Total Quality Management (TQM) is customer-oriented management

philosophy and strategy. It is centered on quality so as to result in customer
delight. The word “Total’’ implies that all members of the organization make
consistent efforts to achieve the objective of customer delight through
systematic efforts for improvement of the organization. The TQM philosophy
was evolved in Japan after World War II. Edwards Deming, an American quality
expert helped the Japanese to apply concepts of TQM. They concentrated on
customer satisfaction and focused on understanding customer needs and
expectations. However, the American industry ignored this development as it
was still riding high because of lack of competition. During the 1980s they were
forced to look for new ways to survive in an environment of deregulation, a
growing trade deficit, low productivity, recession, downsizing and increasing
consumer awakening. Ford Motor Company lost more than US $ 3 billion
during 1980–82. The US market share of Xerox Corporation which had
pioneered the photocopier, dropped from 93 per cent in 1971 to 40 per cent in
1981. The American industry now realized the importance of Deming’s
teachings and started applying them. This helped Xerox to regain market share
from the Japanese, Ford to come out of the red, Florida Light and Power, USA
reduced customer complaints by 60 per cent in 1983. In 1985, the American
Navy coined the term TQM to represent broadly the Japanese way of quality
management. The need for quality was felt, during World War II, due to the
unprecedented need for manufactured goods. From then on, methodologies
for assuring quality in products and services evolved continuously, finally
leading to TQM. Experts from many countries spearheaded this evolution, with
Deming playing an important role. They are popularly called the Quality Gurus.
Since TQM is the culmination of the teachings of the Quality Gurus,
understanding the teachings of the gurus will give the right perspective for
TQM.
Elements of TQM
Total quality is a description of the attitude, culture and organization of a

company that strives to provide customers with products and services that
satisfy their needs.
These elements can be divided into the following four groups—foundation, building bricks,
binding mortar and roof.
I. Foundation: It includes ethics, integrity and trust. TQM is built on a foundation of ethics,
integrity and trust. It fosters openness, fairness and sincerity and encourages the
involvement of everyone in the organization.
1. Ethics: It is a combination of written and unwritten codes of principles and values that
govern decisions and actions within a company. Business ethics boils down to knowing the
difference between right and wrong and choosing to do what is right. It describes the
actions of individuals within an organization, as well as those of the organization as a whole.
2. Integrity: It is the consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles,

expectations and outcomes. Integrity may be seen as the quality of having a sense of
honesty and truthfulness in regard to the motivation for one’s actions.
3. Trust: Trust builds a cooperative environment essential for TQM. Trust is a by-product of
integrity and ethical conduct. Trust fosters everybody’s participation and fosters individual
risk-taking for continuous improvement.
II. Building Bricks: It includes leadership, teamwork and training.
Leadership, teamwork and training are the building bricks of TQM. Leadership in TQM
requires the manager to provide an inspiring vision, make strategic decisions and instil
values that guide subordinates. Teamwork offers continuous improvement in processes and
operations. Training is very important for employees to be highly productive.
4. Leadership: It is the most important element in TQM. Leadership is about raising the
aspirations of followers and enthusing people with a desire to reach the goals. A good leader
creates a vision, passionately owns it and relentlessly drives it till completion. Total quality
management initiatives have to be introduced and led by the top management.
5. Teamwork: There are, however, a great variety of teams that are used in conjunction with
the philosophy of TQM and there is seemingly no settled or dominant combination of team
types that are used. Teams may be temporary, adhoc or permanent, they may be functional
or cross-functional, voluntary or compulsory, have members with multiple skills or
complementary skills, and may have a limited scope of responsibility.
TQM organizations mainly adopt three types of teams:
a. Problem-solving teams: These are temporary and formed to solve certain problems,
identify and overcome causes of those problems.
b. Quality improvement teams: These are temporary teams with the purpose of dealing with
specific problems that often recur. These teams are set up for a period of three to twelve
months.
c. Natural work teams: These teams consist of small groups of skilled workers who share
tasks and responsibilities. These teams use concepts such as employee involvement teams,
self-managing teams and quality circles.
6. Training: Training is essential for all the employees to be highly productive. All the
employees will need to be trained in interpersonal skills, ability to function in teams,
problem solving, decision making, job performance and improvement, business economics
and technical skills. Employees are trained by supervisors of each department so that they
can become effective employees of the company.
III. Binding Mortar: It includes communication. Communication binds everything together,

starting from the foundation and going up to the roof. Communication is the vital link
between all the TQM elements and must be prevalent in an organization in order for TQM to
work the way it should. The channels of communication need to be credible and easily
interpreted for all members of the organization.
7. Communication: It acts as a link between all the elements of an organization. For

communication to be effective, the receiver must interpret the message in the way the
sender intended. The different types of communication are downward communication,
upward communication and lateral communication.
IV. Roof: It includes recognition. Recognition is the last and final element of TQM. There can
be a huge change in self-esteem, productivity and quality when the contributors are
recognized. This recognition brings greater internal customer satisfaction, which in turn
leads to external customer satisfaction in the organization.
8. Recognition: Recognition should be provided for both suggestions and achievements, for
both teams and individuals. The most important responsibility on a supervisor is that of
providing recognition to the employees under him.
Total Quality Control System
Total quality control system is a system that assures the possibility of production of high-quality
goods or services. It might include staff roles and relationships, procedures, systems and any other
resources that relate to producing high quality goods or services.
1. Who should be responsible for the functions affecting quality?
2. Once installed, how should the system be audited and reviewed to remain effective.
3. The planning considerations involved in setting up the quality system.
4. The documented work instructions required.
5. The records that will be required.
6. How should problems be identified and corrected?
7. Which are the design functions that need to be controlled?
8. The kind of system required for the control of documentation and changes.
9. The control of verification equipment required.
10. The control of purchased materials and services.
11. The controls required during production and operations.
12. The requirements at final inspection.
13. Any sampling procedure that should be used.
14. The control of non-conforming materials or services.
15. The identification of inspection status of materials in the production process.
16. The procedure required to protect and preserve product or service quality.
17. The need for training.

QUALITY FUNCTIONS DEPLOYMENT
Quality Function Deployment, or QFD, is a method used to identify critical customer

attributes and to create a specific link between customer attributes and design parameters.
Matrices are used to organise information to help marketers and design engineers answer
three primary questions:
 What attributes are critical to our customers?

 What design parameters are important in driving those customer attributes?
 What should the design parameter targets be for the new design?
The organising framework for the QFD process is a planning tool called the "house of
quality" (simplified example above). Working as a team, design engineers and marketers first
establish critical customer attributes for the product. These attributes become the rows of the
central matrix of the house of quality. The team may group attributes into broader categories
in order to simplify planning and analysis.
In the example above, six attributes have been singled out for analysis: speed, quiet
operation, crisp and accurate sound, cost, size, and reliability. The team now establishes
weightings that represent the relative importance of each attribute from the customers'
perspective. The complete set of weightings adds up to 100%.
The second step is to establish the critical design parameters that drive system performance
(in measurable terms and directly linked to customer attributes). In the example these are:
number of teeth, lubricant, tooth thickness, and manufacturing precision.
The third step is to fill in the body of the central matrix. Each cell represents a potential link
between a design parameter and a customer attribute. This "relationship matrix" indicates
both the direction and strength of the relationship.
The fourth step focuses on customer perceptions of the company's existing product as
compared to its competitors. This may give insight into market problems and opportunities.
The fifth and last piece of analysis is the interaction or relationship between design
parameters. In the cells of the "roof" matrix is indicated the strength and direction of the
interrelationships among design parameters.
References
 Wheelwright. S. C. and Clark. K. B., 1992, Revolutionizing Product

Development, The Free Press, New York.

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Evolution of TQM

Total Quality Management (TQM) is customer-oriented management

Total quality is a description of the attitude, culture and organization of a

2. Integrity: It is the consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles,

II. Building Bricks: It includes leadership, teamwork and training.

TQM organizations mainly adopt three types of teams:

III. Binding Mortar: It includes communication. Communication binds everything together,

7. Communication: It acts as a link between all the elements of an organization. For

1. Who should be responsible for the functions affecting quality?

3. The planning considerations involved in setting up the quality system.

4. The documented work instructions required.

5. The records that will be required.

6. How should problems be identified and corrected?

7. Which are the design functions that need to be controlled?

9. The control of verification equipment required.

10. The control of purchased materials and services.

11. The controls required during production and operations.

12. The requirements at final inspection.

13. Any sampling procedure that should be used.

14. The control of non-conforming materials or services.

15. The identification of inspection status of materials in the production process.

17. The need for training.

Quality Function Deployment, or QFD, is a method used to identify critical customer

 What attributes are critical to our customers?

 Wheelwright. S. C. and Clark. K. B., 1992, Revolutionizing Product

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