Total Quality Management

The term TQM refers to a combination of three words.  These three words are, quite obviously, Total, Quality, and Management.  The definition and meaning of each of these words is important, but more important is how these words combine and interrelate to create a concept that can help improve a company’s image, bottom line, and employee satisfaction.  So let’s look at these three words, first individually today, and then collectively in a future post.

Obviously we all know what each of these words mean in everyday use, but more specifically, what do they mean in terms of a business as they relate to TQM?

Total

Something that relates to the entire company/corporation;
Something that is enterprise-wide, covering all of the locations and not limited to just a few locations;
Also something that includes the entire operational process, from the very beginning to the end.

Quality

Not only should something work, but it should work well. It should also be well-produced, with well-made components, so that it is durable. It should have a high degree of excellence and worth.

There are actually three separate definitions that need to be included when talking about “quality”.

1. Quality of products and services to satisfy some specific need(s) of the consumer (end user);
2. Quality of return to satisfy the needs of the shareholders;
3. Quality of life to satisfy the needs of the people in the organization, both at work and outside work .

Management

While similar to the definition above for the term Total, this is something that relates to the managment of the entire process, not just to the management of an individual step or plant. It consists of many different pieces, starting with planning, then moving onto organizing, directing, and controlling, and then finishing with the delivery of the actual product.

Until next time,
Hal Hamer