Total quality management (TQM) is a management approach that aims to continuously improve processes by incorporating employee knowledge and focusing on customer needs. It involves organization-wide efforts to install a culture of continuous quality improvement. Key elements of TQM include customer focus, employee involvement, a process-centered view, strategic planning, fact-based decision making, and continuous improvement. When implemented successfully, TQM can provide benefits like strengthened competitiveness, higher productivity, reduced costs, improved customer satisfaction, and increased profitability and shareholder value.

1. INTRODUCTION
Total quality management
Total quality management (TQM) consists of organization-wide efforts to install and
make a permanent climate in which an organization continuously improves its ability
to deliver high-quality products and services to customers. While there is no widely
agreed-upon approach, TQM efforts typically draw heavily on the previously
developed tools and techniques of quality control. TQM enjoyed widespread
attention during the late 1980s and early 1990s before being overshadowed by ISO
9000, Lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma Total Quality Management is a
management approach that originated in the 1950s and has steadily become more
popular since the early 1980s. Total Quality is a description of the culture, attitude
and organization of a company that strives to provide customers with products and
services that satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all aspects of the
company’s operations, with processes being done right the first time and defects and
waste eradicated from operations.
Total Quality Management, TQM, is a method by which management and employees
can become involved in the continuous improvement of the production of goods and
services. It is a combination of quality and management tools aimed at increasing
business and reducing losses due to wasteful practices.
Some of the companies who have implemented TQM include Ford Motor Company,
Phillips Semiconductor, SGL Carbon, Motorola and Toyota Motor Company.1
.
History
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the developed countries of North America and
Western Europe suffered economically in the face of stiff competition from
Japan's ability to produce high-quality goods at competitive cost. For the first time
since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the United Kingdom became a net
importer of finished goods. The United States undertook its own soul-searching,
expressed most pointedly in the television broadcast of If Japan Can... Why Can't
We? Firms began re-examining the techniques of quality control invented over the
past 50 years and how those techniques had been so successfully employed by the
Japanese. It was in the midst of this economic turmoil that TQM took root.
The exact origin of the term "total quality management" is uncertain.[1] It is almost
certainly inspired by Armand V. Feigenbaum's multi-edition book Total Quality
Control(OCLC 299383303) and Kaoru Ishikawa's What Is Total Quality Control? The
Japanese Way (OCLC 11467749). It may have been first coined in the United
Kingdom by the Department of Trade and Industry during its 1983 "National Quality
Campaign".[1] Or it may have been first coined in the United States by the Naval Air
Systems Command to describe its quality-improvement efforts in 1985.

2. TQM Defined
TQM is a management philosophy that seeks to integrate all organizational functions
(marketing, finance, design, engineering, and production, customer service, etc.) to
focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives.
TQM views an organization as a collection of processes. It maintains that
organizations must strive to continuously improve these processes by incorporating
the knowledge and experiences of workers. The simple objective of TQM is “Do the
right things, right the first time, every time.” TQM is infinitely variable and adaptable.
Although originally applied to manufacturing operations, and for a number of years
only used in that area, TQM is now becoming recognized as a generic management
tool, just as applicable in service and public sector organizations. There are a
number of evolutionary strands, with different sectors creating their own versions
from the common ancestor. TQM is the foundation for activities, which include:
 Commitment by senior management and all employees
 Meeting customer requirements
 Reducing development cycle times
 Just in time/demand flow manufacturing
 Improvement teams
 Reducing product and service costs
 Systems to facilitate improvement
 Line management ownership
 Employee involvement and empowerment
 Recognition and celebration
 Challenging quantified goals and benchmarking
 Focus on processes / improvement plans
 Specific incorporation in strategic planning
This shows that TQM must be practiced in all activities, by all personnel, in
manufacturing, marketing, engineering, R&D, sales, purchasing, HR, etc.2
Features
There is no widespread agreement as to what TQM is and what actions it requires of
organizations, however a review of the original United States Navy effort gives a
rough understanding of what is involved in TQM.
The key concepts in the TQM effort undertaken by the Navy in the 1980s include:
 "Quality is defined by customers' requirements."
 "Top management has direct responsibility for quality improvement."
 "Increased quality comes from systematic analysis and improvement of work
processes."
 "Quality improvement is a continuous effort and conducted throughout the
organization."

3. TQM; Basic Concepts
While there are significant differences among the theorists and their approaches
to implementation, they share basic concepts that are the foundation of TQM.
 Continuous Improvement of Quality. Fundamental to all TQM systems is
improving the quality of the products and services provided by an
organization. Such quality improvement results in greater productivity and
enhances the ability of an organization to remain vital, employ people, and
serve customers. A focus on continuous quality improvement helps an
organization do things right.
 Central Focus on the Customer. Also central to all TQM is a focus on the
customer, the internal and external recipients of an organization’s
products. Their needs and desires define quality for the producer whose
job it is to meet or exceed the customer’s needs and expectations. A focus
on customers helps an organization to do the right things.
 Systematic Improvement of Operations. All work occurs in processes
that begin and end somewhere. These work processes account for 80- 85
percent of the quality of work and productivity of employees. Management
is responsible for systems within an organization; therefore, managers, not
employees, must shoulder blame when something goes wrong with the
system.TQM calls for studying work processes quantitatively, using
individuals or teams, to find places that breakdowns or unnecessary
complexities occur in processes, and then to identify solutions that prevent
them in the future. Study of work processes helps to reduce costs while
ensuring that quality is built into a service or product since quality cannot
be inspected into it at the end of the processes
 Open Work Environments. Continuous quality improvement requires an
atmosphere for innovationwhere suggestions for improvement are solicited
and respected and where supervisors and managers are open to
disagreement, conflict, and challenge. Activities for the improvement of
work processes, especially when teams are involved, help to break down
barriers that occur between departments or between supervisors and those
supervised.
 Long- Term Thinking. TQM is also characterized by long- term thinking
which helps mold the future by understanding the consequences of current
actions. Such thinking requires decision making that is based on data, both
hard and soft, and related to real problems, not symptoms. It requires time.
It shies away from quick fixes arrived at by discussion and intuition. Long-
term thinking works best in organizations where managers plan to stay,
and thus have a stake in the consequences of their decisions.

4.  Development of Human Resources. Organizations that follow TQM
principles are organized to help people do their jobs; they are seriously
committed to employee learning and development. Such development
begins with a thorough orientation to the organization, including its mission,
values, and information about where the job fits into the organization. It
involves educating people to perform to the quality standards of a specific
job before requiring them to work independently.TQM expects managers to
respect the ability of well trained employees to know the work they do
better than anyone, and therefore, to be the best at improving it. Human
resource development includes providing the training to learn the
communication, quantitative, and team- participation skills required in an
open, quality improvement work environment. Development programs
provide extensive education to help individuals keep up- to- date on their
jobs and to prepare themselves for new responsibilities.
 Management Responsibility for TQM Leadership. Managers need to
lead the transformation of the organization to the new culture of continuous
quality improvement. They must accept personal responsibility for
continuous quality improvement and be dedicated to empowering others in
the organization to accept personal responsibility for it, too. This approach
taps the collective genius of the organization to identify and solve
problems. The leader’s focus is on policy, structure, and systems to sustain
continuous quality improvement. Within this context, quality is the first
among equals of the organization’s functions. Quality is at the top of the
agenda for every meeting, every communication. The leader’s goal is to
help people, things, and machines do a better job; the leader’s role is that
of facilitator, catalyst, and coach.
As previously stated, TQM requires a cultural change. Table I -I compares the
previous state with the TQM state for typical quality elements. This change is
substantial and will not be accomplished in a short period of time. Small
organizations will be able to make the transformation much faster than large
organizations.
The PrimaryElementsof 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 improvement—training employees,

5. integrating quality into the design process, upgrading computers or software, or buying
new measuring tools—the 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.
o An integrated business systemmay 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 organization’s 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. TQMrequires that an organization

6. 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.
IMPORTANCE OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
The following direct and indirect benefits that total quality management (TQM)
can offer organizations:
 Strengthened competitive position
 Adaptability to changing or emerging market conditions and to environmental and
other government regulations
 Higher productivity
 Enhanced market image
 Elimination of defects and waste
 Reduced costs and better cost management
 Higher profitability
 Improved customer focus and satisfaction
 Increased customer loyalty and retention
 Increased job security
 Improved employee morale
 Enhanced shareholder and stakeholder value
 Improved and innovative processes
The benefits of total quality management are endless, helping your organization get
results.

7. DATA ANALYSIS