Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management

Total quality management (TQM) is the process of monitoring and continually improving the quality of products while increasing productivity. Organizations large and small witness significant improvement of product quality and production levels when TQM is implemented properly. This paper will provide an explanation of TQM, compare and contrast traditional and quality-focused management styles, the impact of globalization on quality, and how TQM can benefit a specific organization.

Defining Total Quality Management

Total quality management should be broken down to understand the definition and impact of the management style. The term вЂ?total’ means complete or entire; in the business world the term вЂ?total’ is all encompassing from top management personnel to every employee an organization may have. Total includes every process and procedure relative to the organization’s product or service. Quality is the second component of TQM, but quality has a number of different perceived definitions, the most common, however, is “an essential or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute” (Dictionary.com, 2008), others define вЂ?quality’ as a degree of excellence whether positive or negative. In business quality is used to define a product or service in relation to the cost of the product or service and is based on the customer base for a particular organization.

In the instance where two organizations provide the same product or service, a consumer will likely investigate the cost associated with each respective product. During the investigation process the consumer may discover one organization charges more for the product or service than the other organization, but the more expensive product includes “extras” to meet the consumer’s needs. Automobile insurance is an industry where many organizations compete for customers, but the product provided is essentially the same. The many insurance providers have developed “extras” to attract the consumer such as Accident Forgiveness by Allstate Ð'® or Esurance Ð'® which provides consumers with the convenience of printing insurance verification cards in the convenience of the consumer’s home or place of business.

The third component of TQM is management, which can be defined as the individual or group supervising or controlling an organization in business practices. The reality is many organizations have various levels of management, which may function as separate entities within a given organization.

The three components of TQM work together to provide complete quality and ongoing improvements throughout an organization, thus providing the organization’s internal and external customer base with products that maintain desirable attributes, while improving productivity within the organization. TQM systems include Six Sigma, ISO 9000, Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award, and Deming Prize.

Traditional versus Quality-Focused Management Styles

Traditional management styles are often associated with poor leadership styles that do not incorporate employee input in the decision making process or in quality improvement measures. Many organizations still practicing traditional management styles focus on the numbers and by the book procedures decreasing employee satisfaction, feeling of ownership, and overall decreasing employee morale as the result of unreasonable demands and frequent changes to quality procedures in an attempt to increase productivity. Traditional management styles are also associated with organizational failures as many of these organizations cannot compete in the global market.

Quality-focused management styles start at the very top of an organization with stakeholders and high ranking managers identifying the need for change, area of change, and procedural steps for change. Organizations with quality-focused management styles focus on the quality of the product, external and internal customer satisfaction, and employee productivity. Through the use of quality improvement measures such as Six Sigma, organizations develop unified values for managers, employees, and customers alike. Employees of a quality-focused organization benefit in a number of ways including a sense of pride in the product or service, a feeling of ownership, and teamwork that encourages new ideas from top management to every last employee.

The two management strategies are significantly different; however, each management style is subject to failure on different levels. As previously noted, traditional management styles have difficulty competing in the global market, which is due to the lack of employee input, strict by the book policies, and excessive or unreasonable demands on the employees resulting in decreased productivity. The quality-focused management styles provide organizations with continued improvement through a teamwork relationship between managers and employees, thus making employees feel a sense of ownership, pride, and increasing morale.