Total Quality Management

Looking at Japans economy today compared to what it was like before 1950 was a miracle. All of a sudden Japans quality and dependability was turning upward, and the new and stronger economic age was beginning. The answer was Dr. W Edwards Deming and his Total Quality Management system. In light of American hesitation it seems very worth while to consider what the effects are on our economy. In this paper we will explore the elements of TQM, how it is implemented, and why does it sometimes fail.

"The philosophy of TQM can be summarized as a management system for a customer focused organization that involves all employees in continuous improvement of all aspects of the organization." This system uses strategy, data, and effective communication to create quality discipline into the activities of the organization. So what are the elements of TQM? There are 8 major elements of TQM. The first is you have to be customer focused because first of all that's the reason you go to work everyday and second the customer is the final judge on quality and whether or not the efforts were worth while. Second is total employee involvement, the company runs from the bottom up so the level of participation will determine the outcome of quality and productivity. Two things need to happen in order for employees to be fully involved first fear must be eliminated from the workplace and second management must provide the proper environment then can employees self-managed and feel empowered. The third is you must be process centered, the process must be defined and the performance must be measure continuously monitored in order to detect unexpected variation.